State Capitol in Pierre
By: John Hult
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – People with firearms training will be allowed to carry concealed handguns on college campuses in South Dakota if Gov. Larry Rhoden signs a bill passed by the House of Representatives on Thursday at the Capitol in Pierre.
A call for rejection from a representative who formerly served as a Highway Patrol trooper and said he lost sleep over the proposal, along with a plea from another who leads a campus suicide prevention group, weren’t enough to keep Senate Bill 100 from a 55-14 win.
It passed even more decisively in the Senate on Feb. 12, with just two senators saying no.
The bill came from Sen. Mykala Voita, R-Bonesteel, who amended it after input from the Board of Regents to allow colleges to ban guns near flammable chemicals and require them to be locked up when in their owners’ dorm rooms. The amended bill also requires people to have an enhanced concealed carry permit — which can only be obtained after completing a firearms safety course — to carry on campus.
One senator said it “might be the best bill” he’d ever seen, calling it a boon to self-defense for young people.
The bill’s prime sponsor in the House, Glenham Republican Spencer Gosch, added his own superlatives to the self-protection theme as he urged his fellow representatives to give the idea a green light.
“It’s a great bill for the citizens of South Dakota to be able to protect themselves the way God intended,” Gosch said. “I’d urge you to please vote yes.”
Rep. Jim Halverson, R-Winner, was the first to rise in opposition.
“I slept very little last night because I couldn’t make peace with my God if I didn’t stand up and speak against this bill today,” Halverson said.
He spoke of his time in the state Highway Patrol, firearms-related threats to law enforcement officers at the state Capitol, and “a lot of stuff I don’t want to talk about today” involving guns.
Military members and law enforcement go to great lengths to secure their firearms, he said, and he doubts college students are likely to treat their weapons with the same degree of respect.
“A locked box in a dorm room just doesn’t seem like a good plan,” Halverson said.
Rep. Erik Muckey, D-Sioux Falls, is director of Lost & Found, a nonprofit group that works to prevent suicides on campus. Suicide is the leading cause of death among college-aged students, and he said South Dakota’s rate of suicide by firearm is 12 times the national average.
“I hate seeing that statistic, because it hurts my heart, hurts my soul,” said Muckey, who said bills like SB 100 carry more risk of contributing to suicide than personal safety.
Rep. Marty Overweg, R-New Holland, rejected that idea. He described himself as a grandpa who worries “more than anyone,” but doesn’t worry about guns causing suicides. People make their own choices, he said, and adults are empowered to take risks.
The right to bear arms and protect oneself, he said, shouldn’t be infringed upon “because I’m worried something bad might happen.”
“Those rights are solid,” Overweg said. “Those rights belong to every law-abiding citizen, 18 years and older, and I say if they have the right to protect themselves, they should have that right.”
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