accomplishments
These are just some of the things SDSSALA has been integral in passing:
1999: A Shooting Range Protection law.
1999: A Limited Liability law to protect lawful firearms and ammunition manufacturers from
crippling and undeserved liability lawsuits.
2002: A law allowing Color Guard units to carry unloaded firearms for ceremonies on elementary
and secondary school grounds.
2002: A Concealed Carry Reciprocity law which allows SD to enter into mutual agreements with
other states to recognize each others permits.
2003: The repeal of an existing law which forced every nonprofit shooting range into paying the
inappropriate 1% Tourism Tax on their gross receipts. Failure to do so was a felony.
2004: A Senate Concurrent Resolution granting Legislative Recognition to Gun Shows.
SCR 3 - Legislative Recognition for Gun Shows
2004: An exemption for firearms from the Governor's Emergency Powers Act. Requested by the Governor
and supported by SDSSA and the NRA.
2005: HB-1189 A bill which cleaned up and clarified existing codified law 23-7-9. As this was
law was written, prior to 2005 no one could transfer ownership of a pistol without first imposing a
48 hour waiting period and submitting an application to the county sheriff, if the purchaser did not
possess a CCW permit. This law (if enforced) had the potential to shut down gun shows and turn every
private sale of a pistol into a violation of law. It was our belief that the intent of the original law
was to specify "federal firearms licensee", and not any "seller." This bill was passed unanimously and
23-7-9 will be amended on July 1st to reflect this change. This law was never enforced and what SDSSA
did was a clerical amendment.
2005: HB-1190 A bill that passed unanimously which now makes South Dakota the 11th state to adopt
Full Recognition laws concerning all out of state concealed carry permits. After July 1st, when this
law goes into effect, South Dakota will honor all legally issued permits from all 46 states which issue
them. This law will run consecutively with our Reciprocity law which was passed in 2002, and will have
no adverse effects on South Dakota entering into reciprocal agreements with other states and may even
enhance these compacts.
2005: HB- 1209 A bill which further strengthens the privacy and security of our Concealed Carry Pistol
Permit data base and assures that it will never leave the Secretary of State's office. It specifies
that no "data base" can ever be assembled using the SOS's files. It also includes a privacy provision
for serial numbers on firearms that were stolen, recovered, and returned to the legal owner. Once
returned, the serial numbers cannot be retained. Another portion of this bill allows law enforcement
officers to verify the validity of a pistol permit, but with very strong restrictions put in place to
protect the confidentiality of the data base. A very key point to this section of the bill is that it
only allows for an individual officer to verify an individual permit, presented or declared to the
officer in the field. This eliminates the possibility for access to the entire data base and makes it
illegal to do so. It also eliminates a potential problem for a resident of South Dakota who is legally
carrying concealed in another state. An out of state officer can verify validity rather than detain
the gun owner until 8AM CST, which is when the Secretary of State's office opens. This portion of the
bill also expands our list of potential reciprocal states, which may now accept our permits. The bill
was passed unanimously and goes into effect July 1st.
2006: HB 1173 A bill which prohibits any and all state agencies from promulgating or adopting any rule
which restricts our Concealed Carry rights on all state lands or property governed by that agency. Any
restrictions or changes to our Concealed Carry rights granted under SD law section 23-7, must be
reviewed, approved, and passed by our state legislative body first. This gives the gun owners in the
state an equal voice in the process and determination through their Legislators and the lobbying
presence of the SD Shooting Sports Association. This does not repeal present restrictions such as
Court Houses, the Capital building, liquor establishments, etc… that already have restrictions built
into state law and have signs posted as such. As a foot note here, the Game, Fish and Parks Commission
voted on 3-3-06 to repeal their present restriction on concealed carry with a permit on lands
controlled by their agency. This makes the exemption immediate rather than on July 1, 2006 when laws
passed during the 2006 Legislative Session go into effect.
2006: HB 1075 A bill which allows the Division of Criminal Investigation and more specifically, the
Forensics Lab, to sell intact at public auctions, criminally used confiscated firearms. This is an
additional option to destroying legal firearms which could not be returned to their lawful owners.
2006: HB 1134 A bill which creates our Castle Doctrine/No Retreat law. We now have a lawful right to
meet criminal violence with justifiable force without the necessity or requirement of prior retreat
first. This law establishes the fact that a lawful individual has the right to stand their ground upon
reasonable apprehension of a threat of bodily injury. Furthermore, you may retaliate with sufficient
resistance to prevent such offense against yourself or any other person, not just family members.
However, the justified use of deadly force is defined in SD laws 22-16-34 and 22-16-35 and must be
adhered to at all times. This law is more involved than what can be printed here, so it is highly
recommended and suggested that everyone reads it at:
http://legis.state.sd.us/sessions/2006/bills/HB1134enr.htm and understands it so there are no
misunderstandings. It does not give anyone the right to shoot someone for just trespassing but
it does ease the burden of proof from someone who finds themselves needing to react to a life
threatening situation.
2006: HB 1199 A bill which strengthened our privacy laws surrounding the list of Concealed Carry
Permit holders. The SD Shooting Sports Assoc. has always successfully lobbied for complete privacy of
this list and has had numerous laws passed throughout the years to this extent but every year certain
media outlets have abused this privacy intent and found ways to publish the list anyway. The latest
abuse was to print the names of "applicants" since that was not one of the protected areas. Now it is.
Under HB 1199, "applicants" for Concealed Carry Permits are now included in the list of protected items
that cannot be released by any state agency.
anti-gun bills defeated
2000: A Negligent Storage of Firearms bill which would have turned home owners or
renters into criminals for unintended circumstances which resulted from a firearm not locked away.
2001: A bill which intended to Data Base all concealed carry permit holders.
2001: A bill which intended to attach Federal Laughtenberg Law language to our concealed carry permit
laws.
2003: A bill which intended to change our permit requirements to add the holders picture, raise the
price and allow future changes to bypass the legislative process.
