“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?