South Dakota Republican Senators are pressing Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) to sign a bill removing a permit requirement for carrying a concealed handgun for self-defense.
Breitbart News reported that similar legislation passed the SD House and Senate last year, only to be vetoed by Daugaard.
The 2017 bill, HB 1072, was brought to a vote by Senator Brock Greenfield (R-2). He contended that the Second Amendment rights of South Dakota residents had basically been taken away by the state and were only given back to those who agreed to get a permit to carry. Greenfield equated the permit requirement with being forced to “lease back [one’s] guaranteed Second Amendment right” from the state.
Similar arguments are being made for permitless carry in 2018. South Dakota Public Broadcasting reports that State Sen. Lance Russell (R-30) is pushing legislation to abolish the permit requirement.
Russell is a former Fall River County state’s attorney who believes fining law-abiding citizens because their firearm becomes covered by a piece of clothing is ludicrous. He said, “I’ve brought this bill numerous times over the last ten years I’ve been in the legislature. I’m hopeful this year we might have a chance to get it enacted into law.”
State Sen. Arthur Rusch (R-17) opposes the push to eliminate a concealed permit requirement. He says, “I don’t believe that the remedy to our violent society is for everybody to be carrying guns. I think that will merely exacerbate the problem.”
The sticking point with Rusch’s position is that handgun murders actually dropped in Alaska, Arizona, and Wyoming, following the abolition of a permit requirement. In other words, the evidence does not support Rusch’s contention that ending the permit requirement leads to, or even contributes to, an increase in violence.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.