South Dakota advances bill allowing adult permit holders to carry concealed guns in schools

PIERRE — Legislation that would allow adults to carry concealed pistols in schools after getting a permit and permission from a principal is two steps from becoming law in South Dakota.

The House Judiciary Committee voted 11-1 on Monday, Feb. 26 at the Capitol in Pierre to send the bill to the House floor. If it passes there without amendment, it will go to the governor’s desk.

Rep. Mike Stevens, R-Yankton, cast the lone no vote in the committee.

“The inference,” Stevens said of the bill, “is that the school boards and the teachers aren’t concerned about public safety — that all of a sudden, we in the Legislature have to take over that responsibility because they’re incompetent to do that.”

Currently, law enforcement officers and school sentinels are the only people who are legally allowed to carry guns on school premises in the state.

There are numerous requirements to become a school sentinel, including 80 hours of training. Lawmakers created the sentinel program in 2013 as an option for schools — especially those in rural areas — that lack assigned law enforcement personnel known as school resource officers.

Senate Bill 203 would establish a third legal path to allowing guns on school grounds. It would extend that right to anyone 21 years or older with an enhanced permit to carry a concealed pistol who also obtains written permission from a school principal “or other person who has general control and supervision of the building or grounds.” Qualifications for an enhanced concealed carry permit include an FBI background check and completion of an approved handgun course.

Several legislators on the committee expressed concerns about designating principals as decision-makers rather than superintendents or school boards. Some lawmakers also described the “other person” language in the bill as vague, with Stevens asking if the language might apply to janitors.

The bill’s prime sponsor, Sen. Brent Hoffman, R-Hartford, said he believes school boards could establish local policies requiring principals to additionally seek board approval. But the bill does not address that.

Hoffman said he chose principals because they know their staffs and their buildings, and because some other states already have similar laws designating principals as decision-makers.

This bill is Hoffman’s third attempt to pass school safety legislation since the beginning of the legislative session in January. One of his earlier bills would have required schools to have a school resource officer or a sentinel, both of which are currently optional. The other bill would have mandated minimum safety standards such as locked doors and the posting of information about an anonymous school safety tip line. Both bills were rejected.

Hoffman said he wants to add proactive protections for students before South Dakota suffers a mass school shooting.

“Would I prefer that we have a pristine environment and we focus only on academics? That is exactly what schools are for, is for educating our students,” Hoffman said. “But that doesn’t mean we should bury our heads in the sand to ignore the problem that is before us.”

Lobbyists for the education community lined up to oppose Hoffman’s latest bill, with some saying they don’t oppose the concept or gun rights in general but do oppose specific language in the legislation. Some asked for amendments reassigning the decision-making authority to school boards or superintendents. Stevens and Rep. Tim Reisch, R-Howard, unsuccessfully proposed amendments to that effect.

Doug Wermedal, of Associated School Boards of South Dakota, said the bill lacks an advance notice provision such as the 24-hour notice required of enhanced permit holders who carry concealed pistols in the state Capitol. He also said the bill could foster confusion by allowing for different answers from multiple principals within the same district, and he said the “other person” language is too vague.

Rob Monson, of School Administrators of South Dakota, said enhanced permit holders from visiting schools could attend a high school basketball game and demand permission to carry a concealed gun into the host school’s gym.

“You’re putting a lot of pressure on a principal at that point in time,” Monson said, “or whoever it is authorizing this, to try and determine, do I know this individual? Can I trust this individual? Is the permit he’s handing me a legitimate permit?”

Several committee members who expressed concerns about the bill voted for it anyway, citing their support of gun rights and their desire to improve school safety.

One of the yes votes came from the committee’s lone Democrat, Rep. Peri Pourier, of Rapid City.

“I am a mother who worries every single day if there’s going to be a school shooting,” Pourier said. “And if I can’t be there to protect my child, the people who carry these enhanced permits are the people I would trust.”

This story was originally published on SouthDakotaSearchlight.com.