South Dakota expects Constitutional Carry with Governor Elect Kristi Noem

Kristi Noem, South Dakota Governor in Gun Store 2018

South Dakota is a deep red state. It should have passed Constitutional Carry years ago. Constitutional Carry is a reform of gun laws restrictions to approximate the restrictions in place when the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791.

Actually, it did. More than once. But Republican governor Dennis Daugaard vetoed a Constitutional Carry bill on March 17, 2017.  This wasn't the first time.  It was a long standing performance. Governor Daugaard vetoed his first Constitutional Carry bill in 2012.  In between, Daugaard was certain to lobby against Constitutional carry, and get it killed with legislative manuevers.

A Governor does not like to veto popular bills. It makes them look bad. It is much better if they can arrange for a popular bill they oppose to die a quiet death by legislative process.

Daugaard was a popular governor. It is too bad he had a phobia against Constitutional Carry.

Second Amendment supporters in South Dakota have another chance, with incoming governor, Republican Kristi Noem. Governor Noem claims to be a Second Amendment supporter. On her campaign website, she says she will support Constitutional Carry. From kristiforgovernor.com:

“The Founders believed our right to bear arms was so important to our country they enshrined it into the Constitution’s Second Amendment,” said Noem. “I believe enacting constitutional carry legislation will further protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding South Dakotans.”

Noem is not endorsing any specific Constitutional Carry bill, but supports the policy in principle. If elected governor, she will work closely with legislators and stakeholders, including law enforcement, to get a constitutional carry bill passed and signed into law.

An avid hunter and sportsman, Noem once owned and operated a hunting lodge near her home in northeast South Dakota. She has been a stalwart defender of the Second Amendment, fighting against Obama-era regulations that limited gun rights and strongly supporting policies such as national right-to-carry reciprocity, which passed the House of Representatives in 2017. Noem has an ‘A’ rating from the National Rifle Association, of which she is a lifetime member.

On facebook, she wrote this:

The right to bear arms is a fundamental constitutional freedom. By enacting constitutional carry legislation, we can further protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding South Dakotans. As governor, I would work to get a constitutional carry bill passed and signed into law.

With legislation, a careful view of specific bills and wording is necessary. The details are where the demons lurk.

A  supermajority in the Senate passed Constitutional Carry in 2017. In the South Dakota House, the vote was 37 to 30 in favor.

There should be plenty of votes to make a majority for the new Governor to sign.
Legislators play games to get re-elected. There are hundreds of millions of dollars spent to oppose Second Amendment reforms, form New York Billionaire Michael Bloomberg or the various groups funded by George Soros.

A few million can go a long way in South Dakota.

Second Amendment supporters in South Dakota may move this bill through quickly, before campaign promises are forgotten.

©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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