Campus Carry Bill Making Progress in South Dakota

Students, faculty, and visitors to South Dakota’s public colleges and universities may soon be able to lawfully carry on campus thanks to a bill that’s on the move in the state legislature. 

SB 100 cleared the Senate State Affairs Committee on Monday, with lawmakers hearing from both those in favor and opposed to the measure authored by Sen. Mykala Voita.

Voita received support for her bill from lobbyists with the National Rifle Association and National Shooting Sports Association, a student from South Dakota State University and a student from South Dakota Mines who said he was one of more than 600 people to sign a petition to the BOR asking for concealed carry rights on campus. 

But SB 100 was opposed by BOR executive director Nathan Lukkes, University of South Dakota President Sheila Gestring, SDSU President Barry Dunn, the South Dakota Police Chiefs Association, SDSU vice president for student affairs and enrollment management Michaela Willis, the USD campus police chief and two leaders of the SDSU Students Association. 

Lukkes said he didn’t want to be mistaken as making any “anti-gun” comments, but said he hadn’t heard from a majority of the more than 36,000 BOR students or more than 5,000 staff asking for a change to this policy. 

He suggested the Legislature have a constructive conversation in a “practical, logical way” about the issue; shared concerns about negligent discharge and stolen firearms; and said the BOR has tried to bring an amendment to compromise on the legislation but that it hadn’t gone forward. 

Gestring read a statement from each of the six public university campus presidents and said while university staff support Second Amendment rights, universities have “specific security needs” that differ from other public spaces. She said the bill may bring a perception of greater safety for some, but a perception of less security for others.

She also said there are spaces on campuses, like research facilities and clean rooms, that would be negatively impacted by SB 100. She also said the bill may jeopardize federal funding and the free exchange of ideas and debates without fear or intimidation.

We’ve heard that last complaint every time campus carry has come up across the country, but I’ve yet to see a news story about a student or faculty member pulling a gun during a classroom disagreement in any state where campus carry is the law. The claims that concealed carry will stifle the free exchange of ideas is, frankly, an insult to the tens of millions of Americans who are lawfully carrying in self-defense on a regular basis, and it simply has no basis in reality. 

As for Gestring’s concern that campus carry could jeopardize federal funding, I highly doubt that the Trump administration is going to yank any federal dollars from higher ed because a state recognizes that college campuses shouldn’t be “gun-free zones.”: I’d say it’s more likely that the current administration would curtail funding for those colleges and universities that do prohibit concealed carry on campus, but either way, Gestring’s fear about funding once again has no basis in reality.

I wouldn’t be surprised, however, if lawmakers address Gestring’s concern about research facilities and “clean rooms” by carving out a limited exemption for certain campus buildings. As things stand, SB 100 is pretty straightforward, declaring that the Board of Regents and individual institutions can’t restrict or limit the lawful carrying, possession, storage, or transportation of a concealed pistol, mace, or pepper spray “within the boundaries of the institution, or while in any building or structure owned or leased by the BOR or the institution. 

That would open up athletic facilities, research labs, and even operating rooms at the University of South Dakota Sanford Medical Center to lawful concealed carry. Most other campus carry laws around the country have declared some or all of those spaces as “sensitive” areas where campus carry is still off-limits, and SB 100 could undergo some changes once it hits the Senate floor.

If it’s adopted as is, however, SB 100 would be the simplest and strongest campus carry law in the country. There’s a lot of debate left before the bill is assured of final passage, but if 2A advocates get behind the measure and the Republican majority sticks to its guns (so to speak) one of the state’s biggest “gun-free zones” could soon be a thing of the past.