House Education Sub-Committee to vote on Citizen Self-Defense bill
South Dakota Gun Owners Email Alert Network
PO Box 3845 Rapid City, SD 57709
605.415.4299
February 9, 2009
ACTION:
HB 1257, the Citizen Self-Defense bill is scheduled to be brought to its first vote in the House Education sub-committee the afternoon of Thursday, Feb. 12. After that it will be voted on by the entire committee.
If there are any committee members below that you have not yet contacted, now is the time. Feel free to use the sample message to help direct your comments. It’s OK if none of these Representatives are from your district. As a committee they represent the entire state.
Phone: Call the House Lobby at (605) 773-3851 to leave a message. A legislative page will be there between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to take your call. Your message can be as simple as “Please vote YES on HB 1257.”
Email: You can use the addresses provided below. If you experience any problems, please use the online system at the following address: http://legis.state.sd.us/email/LegislatorEmail.aspx Choose his or her name from the drop down.
House Education Committee
Rep. Noel Hamiel rep.hamiel@state.sd.us
Rep. Kim Vanneman rep.vanneman@state.sd.us
Rep. Oran Sorenson rep.sorenson@state.sd.us
Rep. Elaine Elliott rep.elliott@state.sd.us
Rep. Jim Bolin rep.bolin@state.sd.us
Rep. Roger Hunt rep.hunt@state.sd.us
Rep. Todd Schlekeway rep.schlekeway@state.sd.us
Rep. Ryan Olson rep.olsonryan@state.sd.us
Rep. Ed McLaughlin rep.mcLaughlin@state.sd.us
Rep. Tom Brunner rep.brunner@state.sd.us
Rep. Kevin Killer rep.killer@state.sd.us
Rep. Jacqueline Sly rep.sly@state.sd.us
Rep. Bill Van Gerpen rep.vangerpen@state.sd.us
Rep. Mitch Fargen rep.fargen@state.sd.us
Rep. Bill Thompson rep.thompson@state.sd.us
---Sample message---
Dear Representative,
I strongly support the Citizen Self-Defense bill (HB 1257), which would recognize the right to self-defense on state college campuses.
The current patchwork of “gun free” policies on college campuses throughout South Dakota is simply appalling. “Gun free zone” signs don’t stop armed criminals. Turning colleges into “gun free” zones via school policy only invites violent crime.
Experience has proven that “gun free” zones are far from gun free. In fact, virtually every major mass shooting in recent history has been committed in a so-called “gun free” zone. A “gun free” zone simply means that the law-abiding can’t defend themselves from armed criminals.
Why should a person have less freedom and safety than anyone else simply because he or she goes to college? If a person is responsible enough to cast a vote, fight a war, own a gun, carry a gun and exercise every other right of citizenship that every other adult citizen enjoys, then why should he or she be disarmed and defenseless at institutions of higher learning?
Rep. Tom Brunner and Sen. Dennis Schmidt have sponsored the Citizen Self-Defense bill to recognize the right to self-defense on college campuses. If it is passed, this bill will simply allow adults who can legally carry anywhere else in the state to carry on campus. Statistics clearly demonstrate that the right to carry is a strong deterrent to violent crime. The Citizen Self-Defense bill will help protect South Dakota colleges.
Please vote YES on HB 1257. South Dakota Gun Owners will keep me informed on how you vote.
Respectfully,
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Background
As you may know, HB 1257 would simply recognize that adults on college campuses should have the same right to self-defense that every other South Dakotan enjoys.
Colleges all across South Dakota are banning citizen self-defense. They are turning college campuses into a patchwork of so-called “gun free” zones, where law-abiding adults can’t defend themselves from armed criminals.
If we allow the anti-gun crowd to ban the right to self-defense here, you can be sure they’ll go right on to restaurants, grocery stores and your local city park, until they have stripped each one of us of our right to bear arms in self-defense.