March 3, 2010

Hat’s off to all of you who took action. The Firearms Freedom Act sailed through the House State Affairs committee and will probably have its final vote on the House floor today.

The committee vote was 9-2 in favor of the bill. Please be sure to thank those who supported the bill and express your disapproval to those who voted against it. As always, courtesy is the best policy.

House State Affairs Committee

Voting FOR SB 89 (pro-gun)

Rep. Jamie Boomgarden – rep.boomgarden@state.sd.us
Rep. Bob Faehn – rep.faehn@state.sd.us
Rep. Brian Gosch – rep.gosch@state.sd.us
Rep. David Lust – rep.lust@state.sd.us
Rep. Kristi Noem – rep.noem@state.sd.us
Rep. Val Rausch – rep.rausch@state.sd.us
Rep. Timothy Rave – rep.rave@state.sd.us
Rep. Manny Steele - rep.steele@state.sd.us
Rep. Charles Turbiville – rep.turbiville@state.sd.us

Voting AGAINST SB 89 (anti-gun)

Rep. Bernie Hunhoff – rep.hunhoff@state.sd.us
Rep. Larry Lucas – rep.lucas@state.sd.us


ACTION:
Please contact your two state Representatives and ask them to support SB 89, the Firearms Freedom Act.

If you need help identifying your Reps, 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 House Lobby at (605) 773-3851 to leave a message. A legislative page should be there between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday, to take your call. You can leave a message for two Representative at a time, and your message need be no more than “Please vote YES on SB 89.”

Email: Click on the following link to send your Representatives an email online: http://legis.state.sd.us/email/LegislatorEmail.aspx Choose his or her name from the drop down. Feel free to copy and paste the sample message below or compose your own message.


---Sample message---

Dear Representative,

I strongly support SB 89, the Firearms Freedom Act.

Montana and Tennessee have already passed this outstanding legislation, and South Dakota is the 19th state to introduce it this year.

SB 89 simply ensures that firearms manufactured and sold in South Dakota are NOT subject to the unconstitutional restrictions pushed by the gun control zealots in Washington, D.C.

This is vital legislation to protect the 2nd Amendment, along with the 9th and 10th Amendments. Please vote YES on SB 89.

Respectfully,

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More information on the parking lot bill and Citizen Self-Defense bill
Many of you have emailed the legislators who cast anti-gun votes against the parking lot bill and Citizen Self-Defense bill. Unfortunately, several of them are responding with misinformation.

Some are claiming that their vote was “simply procedural” and that it really wasn’t against the bill at all. In reality, all legislative action is procedural. The idea that the procedural aspect of the vote has nothing to do with the issue at hand is questionable, to say the least. Sadly, legislative leadership will often push to kill good legislation and then try to explain it away as “just procedural.”

Others are claiming that “the bill was going to die anyway.” This well-worn excuse is often used to kill a bill, regardless of its chances. The Citizen Self-Defense bill in particular stood a fighting chance. But passing pro-gun legislation is always difficult when legislators who claim to be pro-gun vote against it.