March 29, 2024

Republicans Have Failed to Hold the Line & Defend Your God-Given Rights!

The flag of South Dakota

Republicans Abandon the Fight to Enact Anti-Red Flag Penalties!

In a shocking display of a lack of knowledge concerning the basic tenets of our Nation’s First Principles, the South Dakota House Judiciary committee voted to kill H.B. 1131 on Wednesday.

In short, this legislation would have made it a Class Six Felony for any State government official to engage in or offer support for stripping South Dakotans of their God-given right to defend life, liberty, and property with commonly held arms.

You are encouraged to listen to the committee hearing here (Time: 24:03-1:10:12).

While it is true that red-flag laws raise important “due process” concerns, what must not be overlooked is that red-flag laws are also blatant violations of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, and no amount of “due process” can make the infringement less of one. The Second Amendment protects “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” –regardless of whether the government thinks it is a good idea that a particular individual possesses a firearm.

It is within this fundamental issue of First Principles that the majority of the “Republicans” on the judiciary committee are woefully lacking. It is shameful that these legislators are not only wanting in basic knowledge of the principles that form the core pillars of our Constitutional Republic, but they also lack the crucial ability to make rudimentary linkages to current events that are occurring across the nation that will impact your rights in South Dakota!

The vote to kill the bill was 9 against and 3 in favor.

Deferred to the 41st Legislative Day

Yea

Nay

Excused

Fitzgerald Odenbach Reimer
Kull Soye
Massie Hansen
Pourier
Reisch
St. John
Teunissen
Tordsen
Stevens

Mike Stevens (R, HD18)

Tim Reisch (R, HD8)

Some of the notable tyrannical highlights from the come from Representatives Tim Reisch (R, HD8) and Mike Stevens (R, HD18). Both of these “law givers” have almost no grounding within the history of our great nation and pay blind deference to black robed monks professing to be the exclusive holders of secret knowledge that enables them to interpret what the Founder’s wrote in plain English, so that the citizens could read for themselves what our founding documents actually state.

Perhaps these wayward legislators ought to humble themselves in order to read Randy Barnett and Josh Blackman’s excellent book entitled 100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know or Government by Judiciary by Raoul Berger so that they might educate themselves about how the Courts really operate.

Tyler Tordsen (R, HD14)

The award for the most vitriolic hostility towards your liberties goes to Representative Tyler Tordsen (R, HD14); (Time: 1:07:28-1:10:12). Apparently, legislation that is intended to provide the citizenry with a check upon the government when it violates their God-given rights is nothing more than “a fake score card, unnecessary smoke screen bill that I hope you people can see through…”

Not only is Tordsen calling  into question the intelligence of the supporters of this bill, but this is the type of rude comment that one expects from a socialist not a Republican. Given Tordsen’s position, perhaps he should remove from his campaign website that he is “Pro-life,” “Pro-second amendment,” and a “Common sense conservative.”

What most of these legislators seem not to understand is that we have life as a gift from our Creator. Our rights are not only self-evidently true, but also, they are endowments to all humanity, equally. The right to life means that individuals have the right to take the necessary actions for the support, development, and well-being of their own life. Moreover, it means that one has the right to self-ownership, self-sustenance, self-government, self-preservation, and self-defense.

These inherently interwoven principles also intrinsically imply that the right serves as a legal fence protecting individuals from the initiation of coercion by others. That timeless truth is such, regardless of whether the infringing misconduct is instigated by a lawless individual or by the actions of an unjust government. The correlative rule forbids individuals from initiating force against the life of another person, unless acting in defense of life, liberty, and property. The Second Amendment, therefore, is the means by which you safeguard the above-mentioned rights. Consequently, the right is not wholly concerned with inanimate objects, rather it is about the preservation of life.

As obvious gifts from the Creator, these individual rights are therefore unalienable — a term that means “not capable of being taken away or denied” as well as “not transferable to any other.” Given that our liberties are inherent to our humanity, a government cannot strip away the right to keep and bear arms simply because, in doing so, it has complied with due process rights.

With that critical point in mind, providing prudent criminal penalties for government officials who choose to, either willing or through wilful ignorance, violate your rights is a piece of prudent legislation that promotes The Rule of Law.

Aaron Aylward (R, HD6)

GOA would like to extend our appreciation to Representative Aaron Aylward (R, HD6) for continuing to stand guard as a Sentinel of Liberty within the South Dakota Legislature.

Additionally, we want to recognize Representatives Jon Hansen (R, HD25), Scott Odenbach (R, HD31), and Bethany Soye (R, HD9) for standing upon the ramparts in defense of liberty.

Let’s send these “law givers” a message…Our God-given Rights – Shall Not Be Infringed!

Click the button to tell them that you insist that they do not compromise our rights away or send a thank you note to those legislators who voted for liberty!

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