By Nomaan Merchant
Associated Press
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- As a lawsuit challenging South Dakota's concealed-weapons law gets the attention of national groups, the top Republican in the South Dakota Senate says he doesn't see a need for the law to be changed.
A British citizen who lives in Sioux Falls sued the state earlier this month after he was not allowed to renew his concealed-weapons permit. The Legislature changed the concealed weapons law in 2002 to only allow United States citizens to obtain permits.
Senate Republican Leader Russell Olson, of Wentworth, said his main priority is preserving gun rights for U.S. citizens.
"I'll fight for the rights of the citizens of South Dakota," Olson said Friday. "My concern is for the citizens of our state and our nation."
"Foreign nationals don't fall under my umbrella," he added in a separate interview.
House Republican Leader David Lust, of Rapid City, said he hasn't studied the issue enough to take a position.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which helped bring the case on behalf of British national Wayne Smith, says all legal residents in the state are required to have the same opportunity to get a permit. It says the current law violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection of laws.
"The Fourteenth Amendment extends to non-citizens as well as citizens and generally prohibits states from passing laws that treat protected classes of people differently," Robert Doody, executive director of the ACLU's South Dakota chapter, said in an email.
National gun-rights advocates said they agree with the ACLU, even though they question the group's involvement in the case.
"As far as we're concerned, we want Wayne Smith to be able to carry concealed," said Erich Pratt, a spokesman for Gun Owners of America. "He's a law-abiding resident of this country."
House Minority Leader Bernie Hunhoff, a Yankton Democrat, said Friday that he would be open to a change. But any action will require support from state Republicans, who hold strong majorities in both the House and Senate. South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard, a Republican, would not say whether he thought legal immigrants should be allowed to have permits.
"I'd have to see the language of the bill before I decided," Daugaard said.
Lawmakers modified the statute nine years ago in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, according to legislative testimony. At the time, a lobbyist for the South Dakota Shooting Sports Association said the change "was brought about more or less by the actions of Sept. 11."
Bruce Plate, the group's current vice president, said the association doesn't have a position on whether the law should be changed back now.
But other advocates said the law unfairly restricts the rights of legal immigrants.
"That's clearly going in the wrong direction," Pratt said. "We don't think that restricting people's rights, the rights of the law-abiding, makes the public safer."
Dave Workman, senior editor of Gun Week, a publication of the Second Amendment Foundation, agreed.
"A legal resident alien, and I may emphasize legal resident alien, should have the ability to protect himself and his home and his family, just like anyone else," Workman said.
The National Rifle Association did not respond to a request for comment.
Both advocates said they thought members of their respective groups would agree with Smith even though he isn't an American citizen.
"I don't think you'll find too many of them opposed to legal immigration," Workman said. "It's the illegal immigration that drives them nuts."
According to the South Dakota Secretary of State's office, more than 7 percent of South Dakota's population, or about 58,000 people, hold concealed pistol permits. Besides the citizenship requirement, permit holders must be 18 years of age or older, have no history of violence, and have no convictions for a felony or a violent crime.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 27 in Sioux Falls.
Published: Tue, Jan 18, 2011
