South Dakota on Cusp of Eliminating Permit Requirement for Concealed Carry

South Dakota is on the cusp of doing away with the state’s requirement that residents acquire a permit before carrying a gun concealed for self-defense.

Breitbart News reported that legislation to end the permit requirement was presented in 2017, only to be vetoed, and conservative legislators asked Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) to support it earlier this year, but he would not. However, Gov.-elect Kristi Noem (R) takes office in January 2019 and has already signaled support for abolishing any requirement for a permit.

Fox News reports that State Sen.-elect Lynne DiSanto (R) is thrilled to have Noem coming in. DiSanto said, “There are a lot of Republicans that are very excited to have a conservative governor. I think under a new governor [concealed carry legislation is] very likely to pass.”

There are currently 12 states where the Second Amendment is the only concealed carry permit a resident needs: Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming, and Vermont. And FBI crime stats for Alaska, Arizona, and Wyoming–three states that abolished their permit requirements years ago–show that murders with handguns decreased once the permit requirement was eradicated.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, 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.