“A state Senate subcommittee voted against approving a bill that would allow anyone who can legally own a gun to carry it concealed without a permit,” wbtw.com reports “Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg [above], was the only senator to vote for the bill.” Wait. Let me guess. Bright was the only Republican on the sub-committee. Wrong! But first, in memoriam, here’s his pitch . . .
“The Second Amendment’s very clear. It says the right to bear arms shall not be infringed and putting a price on a permit that you have to have in order to carry a weapon to defend yourself is an infringement. And several other states have passed this. West Virginia just recently passed this. Arizona.”
The opponents of Palmetto State constitutional carry were somehow not swayed by Senator Bright’s appeal to his fellow legislators — despite having sworn an oath to uphold and defend both the United States Constitution and state constitution (whose language on gun rights mirrors the federal document).
But other senators on the subcommittee don’t like the idea of just anyone carrying a gun. Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said during the meeting, “It does away with the background check and training and other requirements by allowing anybody in South Carolina to carry.”
Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington, said, “If you’re going to carry a gun, I think you need to be trained to carry it.”
Members of the South Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America were at the hearing to oppose the bill. Elizabeth Crawford told senators, “If passed, this bill would let some dangerous people, and those who may have never fired a gun before, carry a hidden, loaded handgun in public without a permit.”
And what of the gun rights advocates who were at the hearing? BTW, WBTW doesn’t mention them. I wonder why that is?
What is SC’s deal with carry?
No reciprocity with GA and krap like this.
Combination of Dixiecrats and left over bias from the Civil War as I understand it. That and some laws that were on the books specifically to keep certain ethnic groups from obtaining the ability to carry arms and are now being used to keep everyone from doing so unless you just through some flaming hoops.
That’s kind of what I think. There are some “generally pro 2nd Amendment” folks with racist tendencies. They don’t trust certain black folks to carry guns.
Sorta like Texas I guess.
That;s the dirty little secret of supposedly “great” Lincoln’s legacy: He didn’t help free the slaves. Just help enslave everyone else right alongside them.
Lincoln’s legacy was Reconstruction, which was supposed to deal with this exact kind of crap. And it actually did, while it was ongoing.
The ones who failed were the Northern politicians of the next generation, who gave up on it to appease the Southern Democrats, letting them take back over and do whatever the hell they wanted, so long as it wasn’t called “slavery” on the cover.
SC only grants reciprocity for states which require firearms safety training prior to the issuance of a permit; because Georgia does not do this, SC refuses to recognize GA permits.
I know the deal with training, but what’s their problem with training people to exercise a fundamental right? They just seem like an oddball southern state when it comes to 2A.
Good explanations above.
Do these people think that “dangerous people” don’t already have “hidden, loaded handgun[s] in public”? Like, is that actually the thought process? Or are they just projecting their own fear and insecurity on those of us not burdened with such things?
I think that is exactly the thought process. Government is magic to these people. Never mind reality, if there’s a law about “those people,” that’s all the Good Little Mommies Club needs to feel secure. Until they don’t anymore, and then there’ll be another magic law. And another one, and another one…
When I lived in SC in 2013, they tried to pass the same bill. I went to one of the hearings in Greenville. The room was packed so full that people were leaning against the walls and there wasn’t enough time for everyone to speak even though 3 hours was allotted. It was easily over 95% in favor of the bill, yet it died that year too.
The permitting system in SC is jacked. As a resident, my AZ permit was invalid in SC, but as soon as I moved to AZ my permit magically became valid again.
And how many of those legislators were looking for work after ignoring the will of the 95%?
I’m starting to think maybe this IS a democracy, by virtue of inaction.
Sad to see this.
I don’t know how much a SC permit costs, but one gets the feeling they just don’t want to give up a revenue stream.
Wiregrass, it’s $50 for a 5-year permit (plus the cost of the mandatory training, which varies from place to place), and you are exactly right – the reason this won’t pass in SC is that it would cause a loss of revenue to the guv’mint. Period. All comments claiming racism forget that time has also passed in SC since the 1960’s…we certainly have racists here, but no more than other states IMHO.
I am dissapointed that my state has yet aga in pigeonholed this popular measure. Off to find out who was on that subcommittee, nice to know who not to vote for.
BTW the SC Lowcountry is becoming a liberal hellhole as it attracts more and more Yankees fleeing the cold and their states failed economys. But for some reason these folks can’t wait to tell us “how much better they done it up north”…and sadly they vote that way too, the guy from Orangeburg is most likely homegrown though.
Carpetbagging has not stopped in 140 years. Still going strong “up” here, too.
I lived in SC for 12 years. I thought it was one of the most split-personality places I’d ever seen…clearly one foot in “Hard Core Southern Self-Independence” and one foot in “Head Up A$$” Progressive nonsense. And often, that was seen in the same person on different issues, especially if that person was involved in state or local government in some fashion.
That is, for the state that seceded first and with many cries of “The South Will Rise Again!” there was an awful lot of “I work for .gov and *I* am in large and in-charge!!” Statism.
It was very strange. (No offense intended, just an observation I made while living there).
Perhaps he could argue to at least waive fees for permits.
I grew up on the formerly rural outskirts of Charleston and finally accepted reality last year and left. It’s sad but the paradise that was the Lowcountry is dead and gone, paved over and covered in condos. The Yankee hordes and ingrained corruption destroyed it.
“One of the Republicans who voted against upholding the Constitution was heard shouting “You will KNEEL before Zod!” when a lowly peasant voiced their support for the bill.”
Sounds like some RINOs need to be canned.
SC and FL have serious problems. They highlight the bankruptcy of the Republican party.
nothing in 2A Connie says anything about training required to keep & bare arms.
Georgia is the golden middle ore more another plant if you see the bording states as sc and florida that have realy terrible public carry laws for shall issue states.