Bill to allow concealed pistols on college campuses clears state Senate

PIERRE — A bill to let students carry concealed pistols in South Dakota’s public institutions of higher education is on its way to the state House of Representatives.

The proposal morphed from its more permissive initial form into one less objectionable to the state Board of Regents before earning a 33-2 endorsement on the Senate floor Wednesday.

State institutions currently bar the possession of guns on school grounds.

Freshman Sen. Mykala Voita, R-Bonesteel, said the amended version of Senate Bill 100 isn’t the bill she originally wanted. Even so, she worked with the regents on guardrails to achieve her goal of allowing responsible student gun owners to protect themselves. 

Proposal to allow concealed pistols on college campuses advances in SD Legislature

Under the amendment she requested and her fellow senators passed, students would need an enhanced concealed carry permit to arm themselves with firearms on campus. The original bill had no such caveats.

To obtain such a permit, the permittee must complete firearms safety training and pass an FBI background check.

People who go through that kind of trouble and “commit to carrying every day,” Voita said, are responsible.

“I’ve been carrying since I was 18, so I can personally speak to this,” Voita said.

The amended bill would also require on-campus gun owners to lock their weapons up when they’re not carrying them, and bar firearms near research areas and areas with volatile chemicals. As with the original, it doesn’t specify whether a student can open carry.

A host of senators sang Voita’s praises for working with the regents to find a compromise. Pierre Republican Jim Mehlhaff, the majority leader, said it might be the best bill he’d ever seen at the statehouse.

Sioux Falls Democrats Jamie Smith and Liz Larsen cast the two dissenting votes. Smith praised the idea of encouraging gun safety training – valuable for all citizens, he said – but said he felt compelled to interrupt the parade of accolades to speak up for South Dakotans who might still feel nervous about weapons on campus. 

Deaths by firearm are “out of control” in the U.S., Smith said. The majority of firearm deaths are suicides.

“I just don’t want this body to stand here and think everybody in South Dakota thinks, ‘Hey, this a great idea,’” Smith said.

Mehlhaff’s comments came moments later.

“This allows young people to protect themselves,” Mehlhaff said. “I don’t think any of us need to be protected from ourselves.”