The National Rifle Association has added $2,500 to the campaign coffers of incumbent Sen. Tim Johnson.

It's the first time since the South Dakota Democrat ran for the Senate in 1996 that he has received support from the pro-gun organization, which promotes the Second Amendment and opposes more restrictions on gun ownership and possession.

Steve Jarding of Rapid City, Johnson's re-election campaign manager, said Wednesday that the NRA donation was "a big deal."

"It's not necessarily an endorsement," he said. "But sending financial assistance is certainly a form of support. To send it this early, I think, sends a signal that this organization feels pretty good about Tim Johnson."

The check arrived Wednesday in Johnson's campaign fundraising office in Washington, D.C. Johnson, a second-term senator who previously served 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, continues rehabilitation from a life-threatening brain hemorrhage 14 months ago.

So far, Spearfish businessman Sam Kephart, state Rep. Joel Dykstra of Canton and Bert Tollefson of Sioux Falls are the Republican candidates for Johnson's Senate seat.

Dykstra didn't respond to an e-mail sent to his campaign office Wednesday. Tollefson couldn't be reached.

Kephart said Wednesday that he has "no formal relationship with the NRA" but is a gun owner who enjoys participating in "fast-draw" events.

"I'm for protecting Second Amendment rights," he said." I'm extremely concerned that overly tight gun controls, combined with the fact that the federal government can now look into our land-line, cell-phone, and Internet records, is a slippery slope to Big Brother."

U.S. citizenship should be a requirement to own guns in the United States, Kephart said. And firearms should be denied only to those with felony backgrounds or convictions of spousal abuse or serious mental illness.

Beyond that, individual gun-ownership rights should be protected, he said.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com