A Florida bill that would correct a problem was shot down this week. I touched on that earlier today. It was a travesty, in my mind, because it was such a simple thing that makes so much sense.
And they blew it.
Luckily, South Dakota may well do what Florida failed to manage.
The bill not just allows concealed carry on college campuses, but also in bars.
South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden signed bills into law Monday that allow concealed pistols in bars and on public college campuses, among other gun rights-related changes.
“One of my favorite things about South Dakota is how much we respect freedom — especially our Second Amendment freedom,” Rhoden said during a bill-signing ceremony at Boyds Gunstocks in Mitchell.
One bill allows people with an enhanced concealed-carry permit, or a reciprocal permit from another state, to carry concealed pistols on state university and technical college campuses. Requirements for an enhanced permit include a background check and completion of a handgun course. Types of enhanced permits are available to people as young as 18.
Pistols and ammunition must be stored in a locked case or safe when not being carried. Institutions may restrict firearms and ammunition in air-quality-controlled labs, locations requiring a security clearance, special events with metal detectors and armed security, and labs with flammable liquids, dangerous chemicals and hazardous gases.
The bill received few no votes but was the subject of impassioned testimony, including from Rep. Jim Halverson, R-Winner, a former state trooper who expressed concerns to his House colleagues about gun safety amid teenagers.
“A locked box in a dorm room just doesn’t seem like a good plan,” Halverson said.
Maybe it's just me, but I find it funny that gun manufacturers are required to sell guns with a cable lock that does nothing to prevent theft at all because of people freaking out over gun storage and locked boxes are all but required in many places--the cable locks are sufficient in most of those places, though, as are outright gun safes, obviously--but Halverson thinks its a bad idea here?
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Seriously?
Let's remember that bars and colleges are targets. The idea that people are forcibly disarmed makes for a favorite destination for your garden variety mass murderer looking to rack up a massive body count. They don't want a gunfight, they want to murder people. Armed good guys means they're going to look elsewhere, which is what you want on a college campus or a bar.
That means law-abiding adults need to be able to carry a firearm for their own protection.
South Dakota isn't even taking the step of just letting everyone carry. They're offering an enhanced carry permit that will come with tougher requirements for those who want to do this, likely because they figured it would provide easier passage.
And it should.
Now, I get the argument that guns and alcohol don't mix. It's a fair argument.
To that, I'll point out that not everyone in a bar is drinking alcohol. Designated drivers, for example, aren't having a few beers or a couple fingers of bourbon. There's absolutely no danger in them carrying a gun in a bar concealed.
South Dakota is making a move that should happen in every state in the country that doesn't already have these provisions in place.
