Constitutional Carry in South Dakota

South Dakota recently passed legislation to eliminate permit requirements to carry a firearm ("Constitutional Carry").

Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun-control group, called the legislation "dangerous" and said it would have "devastating effects."

So -- how much time do we have to prove whether the effects are actually "dangerous"?

Gun-control groups insist every advance in 2nd Amendment rights will be "dangerous." And yet, violent crime has declined 49% between 1993 and 2017. 

Everytown claims "gun crimes" increased where permitless carry has passed:

States that have passed permitless carry legislation have seen a substantial increase in firearm violence.

• Since Arizona enacted permitless carry legislation in 2010, the annual total of aggravated assaults committed with a firearm in the state increased by 44 percent. That increase represents 1,519 more gun-related aggravated assaults committed in 2016 than in 2010.2

• After Missouri passed a permitless carry bill in January 2017, the city of St. Louis experienced a 23 percent increase in aggravated assaults with a gun in 2017 over the total in 2016. That represents 484 more gun-related aggravated assaults in 2017 than in 2016.

However, both examples ignore the urban centers in which such assaults occurred. They also ignore the fact that these assaults occurred by people who were carrying illegally due to prior felonies or certain misdemeanors. Finally, the data in the St Louis Crime Reports do not support EEGS claims of a "23% increase." Arizona's crime statistics also refute the conclusion that Constitutional Carry resulted in an increase in violent assault (14,264 violent assaults we other than a firearm, while 5,219 assaults involved a firearm).

FBI data shows large differences by state and city. In 2017, there were more than 600 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in Alaska, New Mexico and Tennessee. Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont had rates below 200 violent crimes per 100,000 residents.