Major South Dakota Gun Votes
RCC – The Right to Carry on Campus bill
The Right to Carry on Campus bill was introduced in January of 2008 as House Bill 1261. If passed, it would have recognized that adults on college campuses have the same right to self-defense that every other adult citizen of South Dakota enjoys.
Should a person have less freedom and safety than anyone else simply because he or she goes to college? Should society trust a person less than other people of equal age simply because he or she attends college? If a person is mature and 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? The answer is clear. The right to keep and bear arms extends to all citizens, whether or not they attend college.
RSD – The Right to Self-defense bill
Passed in 2006 as House Bill 1134, the Right to Self-defense bill reinforced your right to stand your ground in self-defense. It clarified that you can meet force with force to protect yourself, your family and anyone else threatened with violence. It also reiterated your right to defend your property.
Most importantly, this Right to Self-Defense bill established that you do not have a duty to retreat from anywhere you have a right to be. This means that the law is on your side if you decide that it would be safer to defend yourself rather than attempting to flee from an attacker.
The Right to Self-defense bill helped to establish your right to stand your ground in self-defense.
ACR – Anti-gun Central Registry bill
The original Anti-gun Central Registry bill was introduced in 2001 as House Bill 1090. It would have registered every concealed pistol permit holder in a database similar to the Sex Offender Registry. This legislation labeled these gun owners as dangerous and encouraged law-enforcement to treat them as a threat.
The Anti-gun Central Registry bill was resurrected in 2005 as House Bill 1209. Just as in 2001 bill, the effect of this legislation is to profile every permit holder as dangerous.
Senate Bill 85 was introduced in 2001 and mirrored the hated federal Lautenberg gun ban, which has stripped thousands of ordinary citizens of their gun rights for life. Literally thousands law-abiding citizens have been banned from ever owning a gun again simply because they had a loud argument with their spouse or gave a grown child a shove. In one case a woman tore her husband’s pocket. In another a daughter threw her keys at her Mom – and missed. Both were arrested on “domestic violence charges and automatically lost their 2nd Amendment rights. Clearly, these kind of altercations are not to be condoned, but no one should lose their fundamental rights because of them.