SB 82 passes committee despite anti-gunners
Full Senate to vote on Friday
South Dakota Gun Owners Email Alert Network
PO Box 3845 Rapid City, SD 57709
605.415.4299
January 28, 2009
Congratulations! Thanks to your hard work, the Citizen Self-Defense bill (SB 82) got past the left-leaning Senate State Affairs committee earlier today.
Many of the anti-gunners who have voted against the Citizen Self-Defense bill in the past sit on this committee. Even though the vote was 5 to 4 against SB 82, the committee was forced to deliver the bill to the Senate floor for another vote. This is due largely to your strong grassroots support and SDGO’s parliamentary maneuvering.
SB 82 will likely come before the full Senate on Friday, January 30th. If it passes here, it will proceed to the House.
ACTION:
Please contact your State Senator and urge him or her to support the Citizen Self-Defense bill. To find out who your Senator is, click here: http://capwiz.com/gunowners/state/main/?state=SD&view=myofficials
Simply scroll down to "My Elected Officials,” enter your address and city and click “GO.”
Email: In order to avoid some recent problems with the state’s email system, we recommend that you email your Senators from the following link: http://legis.state.sd.us/email/LegislatorEmail.aspx
Choose his or her name from the drop down and copy and paste the sample message below or feel free to compose your own message.
Phone: Call the Senate Lobby at (605) 773-3821 and leave a message. A legislative page will be there between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to take your call.
Your message need be no more than “Please ask Senator (insert his or her last name) to vote YES on SB 82, the Citizen Self-Defense Bill.”
---Sample message---
Dear Senator,
I strongly support SB 82, 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 another horrific massacre.
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?
Sen. Dennis Schmidt and Rep. Tom Brunner have sponsored SB 82 to recognize the right to self-defense on college campuses. If it is passed, SB 82 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 mass shootings. SB 82 will help protect South Dakota colleges from a Virginia Tech-style massacre.
Please vote YES on SB 82, the Citizen Self-Defense bill. South Dakota Gun Owners will keep me informed on how you vote.
Respectfully,
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Senate State Affairs Vote on SB 82
Voting for the Citizen Self-Defense bill
Sen. Gene Abdallah
Sen. Bob Gray
Sen. Russell Olson
Sen. Larry Rhoden
Voting against the Citizen Self-Defense bill
Sen. Gary Hanson
Sen. Scott Heidepriem
Sen. Dave Knudson
Sen. Nancy Turbak Berry
Sen. Tom Dempster
Background on “gun free” zones