Gun Control

PIERRE - With the state legislature about to take up the question of allowing armed personnel in schools, it is worth considering the influence of the National Rifle Association on South Dakota politics.

PIERRE - The House Education Committee is weighing a bill that would allow individual school boards to designate teachers, administrators or others to be armed with guns in hopes of protecting against an attack such as the Dec. 14 elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., that left 20 children and six adults dead.

PIERRE - About 80 people gathered at South Dakota's state Capitol in Pierre on Saturday to show their support for gun rights.

AUSTIN, Texas - Gun advocates - some with rifles slung across shoulders or pistols holstered at the hip - have rallied peacefully in state capitals nationwide against President Barack Obama's sweeping federal gun-control proposals.

To me, the term "assault weapon" was obvious. Yesterday a friend asked me a question that I didn't expect: "What exactly are assault weapons?"

WASHINGTON - Braced for a fight, President Barack Obama on Wednesday unveiled the most sweeping proposals for curbing gun violence in two decades.

WASHINGTON - Nearly six in 10 Americans want stricter gun laws in the aftermath of last month's deadly school shooting in Connecticut, with majorities favoring a nationwide ban on military-style, rapid-fire weapons.

PIERRE - South Dakota's Secretary of State Jason Gant says he has seen a "significant increase" in the number of requests for permits to carry a concealed weapon in recent months.

SIOUX FALLS - Security is being increased more quickly than planned at public schools in South Dakota's largest city in the wake of last month's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.

I see that Samuel L. Jackson has voiced his opinion on the Newtown, Connecticut shootings that killed 27 people, of which 20 were children.