AR, MS, SD, UT, VA - TN, IA, SC, LA Bills (Updates)

[Gary Slider]

Arkansas – The Governor has signed SB 24 which adds Stand Your Ground to Arkansas Law. This means you don’t have to retreat if you are in a place you can legally be.   Effective on or about July 30, 2021. Arkansas bills become law 90 days after the legislature adjourns which is scheduled for 4/30/2021. You can read the bill at the link below. 

South Dakota -  The Governor has signed and these Bills will take effect July 1. 

With SB 111 South Dakota is cutting the cost of their permits in half.        https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/219316.pdf

SB 100 limits the government from putting limitations on firearms and weapons doing an emergency including those in the business of selling firearms. They added a whole new section covering firearms mainly because of the COVID problems and shutting down businesses.  https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/219022.pdf

HB 1212 Titled:  An Act to Clarify The Use of Force. Has rewritten South Dakotas Use of Force Statutes.  There is no Duty to Retreat.  https://mylrc.sdlegislature.gov/api/Documents/219922.pdf

Utah -   HB 227 and HB 216 were signed by the Governor and become effective on or about May 5^, 2021. HB 227 better defines Justified Use of Force with Utah adding a new section to their statutes.  That is the same time their Permitless Carry law will go into effect. Utah bills go into effect 60 days after the Legislature adjourns.     https://le.utah.gov/~2021/bills/static/HB0227.html

HB 216 cleans up their Provisional Permit issued to those 18-20 Y/O. Spells out things that were not in the original statute.  

https://le.utah.gov/~2021/bills/static/HB0216.html

Virginia – Roanoke City has adopted Gun Laws banning the carrying of firearms in their city buildings, Parks, Rec Areas etc etc.  This makes 11 Cities or Counties that have banned firearms on their property. The Virginia Citizens Defense League has a listing of those cities and a little info about them at https://vcdl.org/CarryInfo

Mississippi -  The Governor has signed SB 2253 which becomes effective July 1 which will allow an applicant or renewal applicant to choose to  have their permit noted on their driver’s license or State ID Card or get issued  a separate  card.  http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/documents/2021/pdf/SB/2200-2299/SB2253SG.pdf

The above will be added to their respective pages  on Handgunlaw.us when they become effective.  Below are some very interesting items moving in state legislatures.

Tennessee and Iowa - Iowa and Tennessee have Permitless Carry bills moving in their legislature. Tennessee looks very good as the Governor is behind the bill and the legislature has passed similar legislation in the past. Iowa is still 50/50.  Iowa looks promising. TN Bill - https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0765&ga=112  IA Bill - https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislation/BillBook?ga=89&ba=HF%20756&v=r

South Carolina has Open Carry moving in their legislature. SC is 1 of 5 states that doesn’t allow open carry.  Permitless Carry was shot down in their legislature as far as I can tell. Someone will correct me if I am wrong on that. https://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php

Louisiana -  Permitless Carry bill has also been introduced  but hasn’t been moving in their legislature. It is getting lots of press. I don’t see it even getting a vote but then again stranger things have happened. http://www.legis.la.gov/Legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1199929

Handgunlaw.us  -  Tooting my own horn just a little here and showing just how much you can research on Handgunlaw.us  I have a new listing for my links checked. It shows the files and the number of links that each document has. Then there is a total that shows over 7900 total links on Handgunlaw.us   Yes some are doubles but most are to Local/State/Federal government sites or sites that gives information concerning firearms and many statutes of the states covering carrying firearms.  I check those links every 3 or 4 months.    https://handgunlaw.us/documents/Links_Checked.pdf