Free Republic

STURGIS, S.D. (KELO) — The average daily traffic count for the 2019 Sturgis Motorcyle Rally was 209,063 at roughly 22 monitored sites, according to the South Dakota Department of Transportation. The total traffic count at nine monitored entry points into the 10 day rally was 499,654, according to the DOT. Most (61,126) entered on Monday, Aug. 5, the fourth day of the 2019 rally. The arrival of 61,126 vehicles, mostly motorcycles, on Aug. 5 2019, is like every resident of Sturgis, (6,922 2019 estimated population), entering the city about nine times. This year’s rally will be from Friday, Aug. 7...

All day coverage for Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota 4th of July Celebration.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Organizers have scrapped plans to mandate social distancing during President Donald Trump’s appearance at a July 3 Mount Rushmore fireworks display and won’t limit the crowd due to coronavirus concerns, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem said Thursday. The Republican governor said the National Park Service is dolling out 7,500 tickets via lottery for the event, which marks the first time in a decade that fireworks will be set off at the memorial in recognition of Independence Day. “There will be no better place to celebrate our independence,” Noem said. “We are excited that President Trump...

President Trump will travel to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota on July 3 to watch a fireworks display. Trump confirmed the visit during a radio interview Friday with Dan Bongino.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) is one of the few governors that decided not to issue a stay-at-home order during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. Her decision was based on the fact that her state had very few cases and she did not want to trample on South Dakotans' civil liberties. Critics are now citing an outbreak at the Sioux Falls Smithfield Foods, which had 438 employees test positive for the virus, as a reason to issue a lockdown. Another 107 people who came into contact with the processing plant also tested positive. As of now, the state has 1,311...

Like her neighbor to the west – which, quips Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, has been "socially distancing the entire 130 years that we have been a state" – Republican Gov. Kristi Noem says she won't shut down South Dakota in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Noem argues South Dakota isn't New York City, and her job is to protect the right of the people to take responsibility and care for themselves and their neighbors. Barrasso, a Republican, said Monday that Wyoming isn't ordering residents to stay home because social distancing already is occurring. Wyoming has just five people per square...

On January 31, 2019, Governor Kristi Noem signed her first bill into law. The bill was SB47, South Dakota Constitutional Carry. From sd.gov: Governor Kristi Noem today signed her first bill into law. SB47, which Noem signed today, will further protect the Second Amendment rights of South Dakotans by allowing constitutional carry. The bill will go into effect July 1, 2019.“More than 230 years ago, the Founding Fathers of our country penned the Constitution that has since laid the framework for centuries of policies. They so firmly believed in the importance of the freedom to bear arms that they...

The House Majority Leader in South Dakota has sponsored a bill to allow concealed carry in the South Dakota Capitol and any county courthouse, with an enhanced pistol permit. It is part of a movement to restore the exercise of the Second Amendment to mainstream status. According to a study done at the Crime Prevention Research Center in 2017, 16 state capitols have arrangements for the legal carry of firearms in the Capitol, generally for those who have a concealed carry permit.  Six states only allow legislators and/or staff to legally carry.The 16 states are: Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa,...

South Dakota is a deep red state. It should have passed Constitutional Carry years ago. Constitutional Carry is a reform of gun laws restrictions to approximate the restrictions in place when the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791. Actually, it did. More than once. But Republican governor Dennis Daugaard vetoed a Constitutional Carry bill on March 17, 2017.  This wasn't the first time.  It was a long-standing performance. Governor Daugaard vetoed his first Constitutional Carry bill in 2012.  In between, Daugaard was certain to lobby against Constitutional carry and get it killed with legislative maneuvers.A Governor does not...

A story that should be getting more attention is one out of the Black Hills of South Dakota. It doesn't get much more interesting than a depredating lion, a 14 year old hunter protecting the family livelihood, and a rifle won at an NRA raffle.The story has already been written by Tom Griffith. The article is well done. I do not want to steal the author's thunder. Here is an excerpt to the rapidcityjournal.com: After a long, sad day, Streff’s youngest child, 14-year-old Dalton, who fancies himself a hunter, told his mother he was going to go sit in...

Roy Eykamp is 99 years old.  He made his first gun when he was seven years old. It was a crude pistol made from a barrel he salvaged from the trash, fired with a hand held hammer, and later, strong rubber bands cut from inner-tubes and a breechblock. He used it to start his lifelong talent for making money. He shot gophers with it, using .22 shorts.The government paid a 5 cent bounty for each gopher. He made enough money shooting gophers, that when his mother confiscated his homemade gun, he was able to buy a factory one with...

Representatives from 13 states including 12 state attorneys general and one governor filed a motion in support of President Trump’s temporary travel ban. From the Dallas Morning News: Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday led a coalition of 13 states in filing a brief with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals defending President Donald Trump’s revised immigration order.In the brief, Paxton and representatives from 12 other states argue that the Trump administration’s new order is legal and falls under the president’s power over foreign affairs and national security. Those joining the brief included Paxton plus AG’s in the...

On Friday, March 17, 2017, Governor Dennis Daugaard of South Dakota vetoed HB 1072, known as the Constitutional Carry bill, and HB 1156, which would have allowed a small number of South Dakota holders of Enhanced Concealed Carry permits to carry inside of the state Capitol. His veto letters reproduced below, sans headers and signature block. From sd.gov: I herewith return to you House Bill 1072 with my VETO.  House Bill 1072 is an Act to repeal and revise certain provisions relating to permits to carry a concealed pistol. The proponents of House Bill 1072 did not testify about...

North Dakota is considering a permitless, or "Constitutional" carry bill. The sponsor is Representative Rick Becker (R-Bismarck).  The bill is HB 1169, and was heard in the House Energy & Natural Resources Committee. The vote in the committee is likely this week.  From Representative Becker's facebook page on January 26, 2017: We had a great hearing today for HB 1169, the constitutional carry bill. There were about 10 articulate, impassioned advocates speaking in favor, plus many more supporting in attendance. There were only 3 against, most of whom employed the oft-touted emotionalism that gun control advocates often do. Lawmakers,...

South Dakota had a Total of 96,227 concealed carry permits active at the end of November, 2016. From kelo.com: PIERRE, SD (KELO AM) Permits issued for concealed carry firearms reached an all-time high in South Dakota in 2016. Secretary of State Shantel Krebs says there were 30,029 concealed carry permits issued, nearly 4,000 more than the previous record in 2013. The total regular, renewed, and enhanced permits issued up to at the end of November, in 2016, were 27,877.  That indicates that 2,848 permits were issued or renewed in December of 2016. The capjournal.com notes that  3,879 were issued...

South Dakota Representative Lynne DiSanto South Dakota will be considering a permitless, or "Constitutional" carry bill again this year.  In 2012, a bill passed both the House and the Senate, but was vetoed by Gov Daugaard.   In 2012, only Alaska, Arizona, Vermont and Wyoming had Constitutional carry.  In 2015, Constitutional carry passed the South Dakota House, but was killed by a Senate Committee.  It passed the House 44 to 23. The Senate was controlled by Republicans, 27 to 8. Now, in 2016, Constitutional carry is expected to be introduced by Representative Lynne DiSanto. From siouxcityjournal.com: PIERRE, S.D. —...

Tuesday, June 7th primaries California – 546 delegates Montana – 27 delegates New Jersey – 142 delegates New Mexico – 43 delegates South Dakota – 25 delegates North Dakota – D Caucus – 25 D delegates

The Pentagon has responded to a globally-released ‘Kill List’, asking law enforcement to give extra protection for military personnel whose personal information was released,News Channel 10 reports. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports the Pentagon spent the weekend notifying the soldiers who appeared on the list, and urged city police departments and military police to increase patrol in the neighborhoods where the targeted live. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) published the list days ago, a report that contained names, photos, and home addresses of U.S. Armed Forces personnel, causing alarm in cities potentially at high-risk....

On the first of February, 2015, I wrote about a gun law reform bill introduced in the South Dakota House.   The bill included a number of reforms, including removing the restriction on the legal carry of concealed firearms by people who could legally own firearms.  The bill passed the House 44 to 23 on the 10th of February, 2015.   The bill looked like a shoo in to pass the Senate, with Republicans in the majority in the South Dakota Senate, with 27 Republicans and 8 Democrats. But there have been a number of Republicans who are not interested in...

HB1116, has passed the South Dakota House,  44-23.  While that is an enormous majority, it is short, by one vote, of the 2/3 necessary to override a potential veto by Governor Daugaard. The house has 70 members, 58 of which are Republicans.  In the Senate, there are 27 Republicans and 8 Democrats, a bit tighter ratio.   The Governor, Dennis Daugaard, has been in office since 2011.   Governor Daugaard vetoed a constitutional carry bill in 2012, citing concerns of law enforcement officials.   From the argusleader.com: Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed a bill Friday that would have allowed any resident 18...