Brady Campaign grades the States again

"Well, the reason the murder rate in SD is so low is obvious. The few people who are up there can't find anybody else to shoot." - Sarah Brady

These are the same morons who issued a panicky broadcast e-mail in response to the Virginia General Assembly moving forward positively on HB 710, which would adopt the castle doctrine here in VA. Although the bill is purely "castle doctrine" only (i.e., you must be lawfully present in a DWELLING; if someone unlawfully enters and makes an OVERT action towards you or some other lawful occupant, such that you REASONABLY believe your or another lawful occupant faces a threat of imminent serious physical injury or death, you can use whatever force is necessary, including deadly force, to defend yoursef. Also provides for immunity from civil suit), the Brady Campaign flat out lied about the effect of the bill. They had the audacity to characterize it this way:

"[This bill] would allow a gun owner to shoot and kill another person in public areas, even if their life were not in danger. This bill eliminates a citizen's duty to avoid a threat and instead allow the gun user to "shoot first" and ask questions later... or never.

This legislation permits the average citizen to bypass our entire justice system by permitting him or her to assume the role of police officer, prosecutor, judge, and executioner -- but it doesn't stop there -- this bill also protects the shooter from civil liability!"

Hmmm... "public area"? Gee, last I looked, the bill expressly was limited to a "dwelling". Allows you to "shoot first"? Well, only after the aggressor (1) enters unlawfully (2) makes an over act towards you or another lawful occupant such you (3) reasonbly beleive a threat of (4) imminent serious injury or death exists.

I also would love to know where the hell they get this alleged "citizens' duty to avoid a threat" nonsense from.

Read it yourself (and drop them a note to let them know what you think) at http://tinyurl.com/2wd7fm

As a South Dakotan, I'm proud to see that our gun laws (or lack thereof) score almost as low as our homicide rate.
For further comparison to DC; in 2006, SD saw 1.2 murders per-100,000 inhabitants. In the District of Columbia, where gun laws are prolific, there were 29 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.


For an area in which one of the primary tourist attractions directly involves firearms (Pheasant Hunting), South Dakota is also surprisingly lacking in accidental shooting deaths.
Conservatively estimating 190,000 resident and non-resident hunters in 2007 (193,502 recorded in 2006) hunting in parties of up to 20 people, the majority during the 3rd & 4th weekends of October; of 30 reported incidents, there was not one fatality. (SD GFP)