The process that could allow concealed guns in bars was a joke, but the bill isn't
A bartender at DaDa Gastropub mixes a drink on Nov. 5, 2024, in Sioux Falls. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
Two guys walk into a bar in South Dakota.
Come July 1, the punchline is that they could legally bring concealed pistols with them, unless Gov. Larry Rhoden vetoes HB 1218.
On March 12, the South Dakota Legislature voted to repeal a current state law that says 'a person may not carry a concealed pistol in any licensed on-sale malt beverage or alcoholic beverage establishment that derives over one-half of its total income from the sale of malt or alcoholic beverages.'
This legislation is bad for many reasons, the most obvious being that alcohol and firearms do not mix.
We know that alcohol lowers inhibitions and reduces impulse control. We know that easy access to a gun in those situations increases the likelihood that it will be misused during a confrontation. And we know that whenever a gun is involved in an impulsive mistake it raises the chances that injury or death will be the result.
That's why Rep. Steve Duffy, R-Rapid City, voted against HB 1218. 'This is crazy. When you mix booze and guns I don't know how you can expect anything good to happen. Sooner or later, there's going to be trouble,' Duffy said.
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Duffy grew up in a family that owned the Chateau bar and restaurant, a well-known Fort Pierre hospitality spot where the drinks were strong and the steaks were tender. He's seen tempers flare and altercations ensue in bars over something as small as an eyebrow raised in the wrong direction. Some of the people involved, he said on the House floor, are 'only not dead because there wasn't a gun or a knife in the room.'
Rep. Erin Healy, D-Sioux Falls, co-owns a bar with her husband. They want the law that prohibits concealed carry in bars to remain in effect. Instead, it was struck down by a late-in-the-session amendment in a process that didn't give Healy's husband, or other bar owners, a chance to comment.
HB 1218 began life on Feb. 4 as a bill to prevent cities and counties from imposing firearm restrictions on their employees and volunteers while on or in city or county property (so much for that all-important conservative talking point about local control).
In that form, the bill passed the House of Representatives and a Senate committee. On March 10, during the legislative session's final week, the Senate amended the legislation to include the repeal of the ban on concealed pistols in bars. The amendment came from Sen. Mykala Voita, R-Bonesteel, who also sponsored a separate bill sent to the governor's desk that would allow concealed handguns on college campuses.
The timing of the amendment shielded it from the regular legislative process. That lack of transparency is another reason the legislation is bad, said Nathan Sanderson, executive director of the South Dakota Retailers Association.
'The last-minute amendment that ended the current ban on concealed pistols in bars should have had a committee hearing,' Sanderson said. 'Small business owners deserved the right to share how this change would impact them.'
Proponents of the bill say other laws will protect the public from problems that may arise from guns in bars. In theory, yes. In practice, not so much.
While intoxicated people can't legally carry a gun, what bar employee wants to be the person tasked with telling them that, or disarming them? And the laws against murder or manslaughter are cold comfort to the bar patron who is already dead, perhaps caught in the crossfire of two hot-headed people with guns.
Guns-on-campus bill surrenders collective safety to the feelings of a few
Proponents also note that bar owners currently have the right to post a sign forbidding guns in their establishments, and they will still have that right if HB 1218 becomes law. But in the reality of our current gun culture, where more guns are seen as the answer to every public safety issue, the Second Amendment extremists who rule the Legislature have so normalized the idea that guns belong everywhere — from college classrooms to cocktail hour — that we have all become desensitized to it.
Justin Henrichsen, owner of the Windsor Block bar in Rapid City and two other alcohol establishments, believes alcohol and guns are a bad mix, but said he probably won't bother to post a sign saying 'No Guns Allowed.' His clientele isn't prone to rowdy over-consumption in any case, and he doubts a sign would stop people who conceal-carry.
Henrichsen's attitude is understandable, of course, given the glorification of guns in this state. But I suspect there are plenty of alcohol retailers who hate this bill, and I'm hoping they contact Gov. Rhoden.
Rhoden is no doubt a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, but he can be that and still veto this bill.
First of all, the 2019 Legislature and then-Gov. Kristi Noem kept the ban on concealed pistols in bars when they struck down the requirement to get a permit for a concealed handgun. All conservative Republicans must agree that was a fine law, right?
Secondly, the bar legislation was passed without proper public input. If allowing guns in bars is a good idea this year, what's the harm in postponing it until next year and subjecting it to an open process?
The people most affected — bar owners and patrons, like me, who want the right to enjoy a cocktail without worrying about loaded guns in pockets and purses around us — should be heard. And that's no joke.
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