Hot on the heels of signing a bill allowing concealed carry in South Carolina bars and restaurants, Governor Nikki Haley has come out in favor of dropping the permitting process altogether. The idea is to restore the right to carry arms without government permission. According to thestate.com, “Nikki Haley said Tuesday that she backs a proposal that would make it legal for most South Carolinians to carry guns – concealed or in the open – without a permit or the training that the state currently requires.” . . .
Constitutional carry is currently the law in five states and is being considered in several others. No problems have been noted in those states that can be attributed to the restoration of full Second Amendment carry rights.
State Sen. Lee Bright, R-Spartanburg, the chief sponsor of the constitutional-carry proposal, says the 2nd Amendment gives Americans the right to carry firearms without any government restrictions.
As usual, there are the “I support the second amendment, but” naysayers. Chief among them appears to be Senator Larry Martin R-Pickens, who is the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the constitutional carry bill is currently bottled up. He’s credited with killing constitutional carry last year. Here’s the money quote, emphasis added:
“Is it (carrying firearms) a right under our Constitution? Sure it is. But it’s also a huge responsibility that we as citizens should respect.”
Respect does not mean we must allow the government to charge us fees and require us to attend classes and essentially prove that we are not criminals before we can exercise our rights. That’s what’s known as prior restraint.
©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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