Background on the Pistol Permit Police-Radio Database
For an analysis of the bill, click here.
The anti-gun crowd has long wanted the ability to profile concealed pistol permit holders. In their view, anyone who wants to carry a gun for self-defense is suspect and should be treated as a threat.
But in order to profile gun owners, they need an instantly accessible central registry, something that current state law does not allow.
That may change, however, thanks to a compromise brokered by lobbyist David Conway and Majority Leader Larry Rhoden (R-Meade County). House Bill 1209 has passed the South Dakota House of Representatives and is scheduled for a Senate vote today.
Under the guise of protecting gun owners, this bill repeals the current state law prohibiting a pistol permit police-radio database and specifically grants law-enforcement the authority to establish one.
Currently, each permit holder’s information is kept in the Secretary of State’s office as a matter of public record, and is accessible during business hours. While the law requiring the permit is in itself a denial of the right to self-defense, up till now abuse of the permit system has been limited.
But HB 1209 throws the door to abuse wide open. The bill expressly allows an instantly accessible police-radio database of pistol permit holders. Once such a database has been established, it will almost certainly be presented to our law-enforcement officers as a means of protection from folks who have a permit.
This is exactly how the database was presented in 2001, when the anti-gunners first introduced a bill to create a new central registry. They claimed that officers need to know if a person has a permit, so that with “a heightened awareness” of the potential threat, they can take action to protect themselves. Sen. J.P. Duniphan, sponsor of the original database bill, put it this way, “I think any tool we can make to make our law enforcement officers safer, and yes, I hope they have a heightened awareness if they know a gun is in the car, because, potentially, their life may depend on it."
In other words, if you have a permit to carry a gun for self-defense, you are considered more likely to be dangerous than someone who doesn’t have a permit. Used in this way, the database would present a profile that would be misleading at best.
Bottom line, this database tells our officers that permit holders, as a class, constitute a special threat and need to be treated differently than the general population.
In reality, however, concealed pistol permit holders are among the most law-abiding people in the state. Currently, there are approximately 43,000 permits. Of these, less than one half of one tenth of one percent have been revoked for any reason. Law-enforcement has nothing to fear from model citizens like these.
Database proponents also claim that they are only trying to help gun owners who might forget to carry their permit card. They are spreading the absolute falsehood that current state law somehow requires law-enforcement to detain and even lock up someone who forgets their permit card. This is simply not true. It is a petty offense if you forget your permit. The officer can only detain you long enough to write a ticket. Furthermore, the law provides that if you produce the permit within 24 hours, the petty offense charge must be dismissed. You can read the law at SDCL 22-14-9.1
So why has the database bill been passed the House? Unfortunately, it is the result of a backroom compromise.
Gun owners across the state overwhelmingly defeated the original database bill in 2001. In 2002, when bureaucrats moved ahead to establish a central registry, South Dakota Gun Owners led the charge to pass the current law prohibiting such misuse of the system. This year, SDGO members again flooded the Capitol with petitions, phone calls and emails opposing the database.
But this time, the anti-gunners made an end run around this massive opposition by cutting a backroom deal with South Dakota Shooting Sports lobbyist David Conway and House Majority Leader Larry Rhoden, who claims to be pro-gun.
In exchange for the database, the anti-gunners have agreed to “cautiously accept” the bill Mr. Conway and Rep. Rhoden have introduced to recognize out-of-state permits (HB 1190), stipulating that they will be back next year with more gun control to “fix” the “problems” it will cause.
For their part, Conway and Rhoden have been working to sell the anti-gun database bill (HB 1209) as a measure that will only help gun owners. They claim that HB 1209 contains safeguards which completely protect the permit information from any kind of misuse.
In reality, Section 2, subdivision (5) of the bill clearly allows a pistol permit police-radio database. The so-called “safeguards” are simply smoke and mirrors. They are cleverly worded, but provide absolutely NO protection from abuse.
In their willingness to compromise, Rep. Rhoden and Mr. Conway have facilitated the profiling of gun owners. HB 1209 provides all that is necessary for the future harassment of anyone who has a pistol permit. Instead of more government intrusiveness, which does nothing to prevent crime or protect police, we should be moving toward Vermont-style concealed carry, where citizens can legally carry without obtaining a government permit.
While the bill to recognize out-of-state permits is good pro-gun legislation, the Conway/Rhoden compromise creates dangers far outweighing any benefits. This “one step forward and two steps back” strategy is obviously a move in the wrong direction. Where is our right to bear arms when gun owners can be profiled and treated as dangerous suspects simply because they have a pistol permit?