Senate Leadership rushes to kill SB 82 before constituents can voice support
Citizen Self-Defense bill will be revived
South Dakota Gun Owners Email Alert Network
PO Box 3845 Rapid City, SD 57709
605.415.4299
January 30, 2009
Senate Majority Leader Dave Knudson has once again demonstrated just how far he will go in order to oppose a pro-gun bill.
In an obvious effort to shut SB 82 down before the Senators could hear from their constituents, Knudson and the rest of the Senate leadership rushed to bring SB 82 to a vote as quickly as possible. They hoped to kill the bill before gun owners like you had the opportunity to voice your support.
On Wednesday they brought the bill to a vote in the State Affairs committee. They were unable to kill it there, so they sent it to the floor. Customarily, the bill would have had at least until Friday (today) before it was decided. Many bills take much more time.
Instead the vote was forced yesterday afternoon, as calls to support the bill were just beginning to arrive. As a result, heavy anti-gun lobbying from education bureaucrats was enough to tip the scales, and SB 82 was defeated 25 to 10.
But the battle is far from over. SDGO has been preparing since the middle of this week to revive the Citizen Self-Defense bill if Knudson and his anti-gun allies proved successful. The bill will be reintroduced early next week.
ACTION:
The final vote on SB 82 is listed below. Many of the Senators who voted against the bill know that they should have supported it. Please contact your Senator and express your approval if he voted for the bill, or strong disapproval if he or she voted against it. As always, courtesy is the best policy.
If you don’t know 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.”
Phone: Call the Senate Lobby at (605) 773-3821 to leave a message. A legislative page will be there between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to take your call.
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.
Senate floor vote on SB 82
Voting for the Citizen Self-Defense bill
Sen. Dennis Schmidt
Sen. Ryan Maher
Sen. Gordon Howie
Sen. Gene Abdallah
Sen. Jason Gant
Sen. Corey Brown
Sen. Margaret Gillespie
Sen. Al Novstrup
Sen. Russell Olson
Sen. Larry Rhoden
Voting against the Citizen Self-Defense bill
Sen. Frank Kloucek
Sen. Jeff Haverly
Sen. Jim Peterson
Sen. Cooper Garnos
Sen. Dan Ahlers
Sen. Julie Bartling
Sen. Kathy Miles
Sen. Art Fryslie
Sen. Bob Gray
Sen. Tom Hansen
Sen. Tom Nelson
Sen. Jim Bradford
Sen. Stan Adelstein;
Sen. Tom Dempster
Sen. Gary Hanson
Sen. Scott Heidepriem
Sen. Jim Hundstad
Sen. Jean Hunhoff
Sen. Sandy Jerstad
Sen. Dave Knudson
Sen. Pam Merchant
Sen. Ben Nesselhuf
Sen. Craig Tieszen
Sen. Nancy Turbak Berry
Sen. Mike Vehle
If you would like to do more, you can contact your two Representatives. The Citizen Self-Defense bill will be introduced in the House early next week.
Once again, you can identify your Representatives here: http://capwiz.com/gunowners/state/main/?state=SD&view=myofficials
Phone: The number for the House Lobby is (605) 773-3851. Your message need be no more than “Please support Rep. Brunner’s Citizen Self-Defense bill.”
Email: Click on the following link and choose his or her name from the drop down.
http://legis.state.sd.us/email/LegislatorEmail.aspx Feel free to copy and paste the sample message.
---Sample message---
Dear Representative,
I strongly support the Citizen Self-Defense bill, 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 the Citizen Self-Defense bill. South Dakota Gun Owners will keep me informed on how you vote.
Respectfully,
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Background on “gun free” zones