By Robert Davis
The first of four public hearings to take place across South Carolina convened in North Charleston City Hall Monday evening. It gave the public a chance to talk to legislators about SB115 that would make South Carolina the seventh state with Constitutional Carry. The Palmetto State currently requires applicants to attend an eight hour course, submit fingerprints, a photograph and pay a fee to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division for their permit to tote. But under the new bill, all that goes away . . .
Hitting the highlights, SB115 would:
- Change the offense of unlawfully carrying a handgun to carrying a handgun with intent to commit a crime
- Repeal the offence of carrying concealed
- Remove references to concealed weapons permits and allow a private employer or owner to allow/prohibit anyone from carrying a weapon in his business by providing notice with a sign
- Prohibit any person from entering a residence or dwelling of another with a weapon without permission
- Amend the section dealing with people who are allowed to carry a weapon anywhere in the state while on duty, to include law enforcement officers
The vast majority of meeting attendees were there to support the bill. In fact, only one spoke against it. That was City of Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen.
He argued for the concerns of officer safety, and questioned the wording of one particular provision in the bill. From abcnews4.com:
“I think when we talk about this, there has to be a balance, there has to be a balance between what the freedoms of the individual are and what the community safety is…The concern I have with this particular legislation is the fact that it creates for a law enforcement officer the necessity to determine what the criminal intent of a person is who is carrying a firearm,” Mullen said. “Under this legislation, the drug dealers, the robbers, the assaulters that we encounter on a daily basis who have not been convicted, this would be an open invitation for them to carry. So, I think what we would like to see is some discussion of how we can balance those things.”
The Chief left the podium to a rousing chorus of muted grumbles.
All the other speakers stepped up to the podium and addressed their comments to the bill’s benefits. One gentleman explained that his family had suffered several instances of violent crime and he had to pay over to $1000 to get them all permitted so they could defend themselves.
A few speakers pointed out that that they’re too old to outrun or outfight an assailant. Many spoke of the Second Amendment’s current threats and the continued erosion of all of our rights. Another gentleman told the panel of his seven children and 44 grandchildren that have all grown up with firearms and he’d taught each safe and responsible use of them. We heard story after story describing the world we live in and the roadblocks being put up to their natural right to self-defense.
One gentleman asked the panel of legislators, “How many of you have your CWP?” One member raised his hand. He repeated his question to the room, and all but a few hands were in the air. Pointing to the raised hands, he said, “They will be the ones protecting you on the street.”
It was a good turnout considering word of the meeting didn’t get out until the last minute. I didn’t hear about it until seven hours before it began. I only recognized one face in the crowd, and I know dozens of adamant supporters of constitutional carry.
One North Charleston police officer got a chuckle out of me when he approached a group of twenty-something members in the audience. “I can’t begin to tell you how glad I am to see folks in here not drawing social security.”
And he had a point. Looking around, I’d estimate that maybe 40% of the attendance was under age 40. But seeing the varying ages represented in the crowd gives us hope that the urbanization of this area hasn’t choked the life from the local gun culture.
There are three more hearings (Rock Hill, Greenville and Myrtle Beach) before bill goes to the senate for a vote. Judging from the response, I get the feeling it has a very real chance of passing.
If you are caught, you become a felon and will have to surrender your fire arm is where this is all going, so when Obama said he believed in the 2nd Amendment, BS, his belief is with loopholes in place for gov control, STOP THE MADNESS, DONATE TO SAF!
magpul is right on this.
PLEASE, for the love of god, DO MOVE AWAY if the std cap ban becomes law.
will continue to have my biz as a 15 round magpul will still be better than the other crap out there.
A guy I work with a few months ago had a similar incident. In the middle of the night (with everyone home) a guy broke in and took some stuff from his den and his daughter’s car. He owned no guns at the time. He now owns several and has taken classes.
““GET OUT, GET OUT!””
That works every time
Charleston native, this warms my heart. HOwever, teh problem with Charleston is that it is rapidly filling with NE yankees democrats who don’t understand what a Southern Democrat is.
Pistorius ought to get some consideration considering he did exactly what the VP advised (though he used a handgun instead of a double barrel shotgun).
Guy didn’t have enough lead in his water, huh?
And I may be mistaken, but SWAT teams don’t respond to home invasions, do they?
Zytel knives make for discreet defensive tools in the water closet.
Those are good tips. If not home “carrying”, I try to make sure I’m within a three second dash of a ready shotgun or pistol, usually pistol.
Since Biden is part of of the executive branch, can a person who follows his advice and gets arrested claim entrapment?
Forgot I had this window open. Clicked on the Swedish model link and my ADD got the best of me.
A stainless double barrel and a skylight in your shower to fire those two rounds out of should eliminate all your fears.
the anti gun forces really want all guns banned and the magazine restrictions and the so called assault weapons ban are just the start. this video kinda proves that point. the proposals the anti gun forces are putting forward will do nothing to curb crime and crazy people from doing horrible acts of violence. overtime they will want more laws passed to restrict gun ownership.
Something tells me if it was her neighbor, he probably knew she was home, and this was something more sinister than a burglary. Glad she was armed and able to protect herself.
This misguided hater has no idea how America became a free nation in the first place and is bound and determined to be the pied piper into the pits of slavery and despair. I’m sure his parent(s) must be very proud…
Jeebus, RF, you’re way over-thinking this.
Biden thinks shotguns emit pellets in a 15-degree cone originating from the muzzle, and that the lethal range of the aforementioned cone-o’-destruction is 50 feet or more.
It has nothing to do with optics, or recoil, or anything else. Biden is portraying the shotgun as firing a cone-shaped death ray that obliterates all that stands in its way with 100% reliability.
The scary thing is that he might actually believe that’s possible, including the idea that #8 birdshot will actually do more than startle and anger a bad guy 50 feet downrange.
Id gladly swap for the 2000 rounds too, us lucky SOB!!! 🙂
Can we please drop the “modern sporting rifle” nonsense? Just say “rifle”. Because that’s all it is. By drawing a distinction between these types of rifles and more traditional “hunting” rifles, we’re playing the game on the anti-gunner’s terms. If you believe that an AR is no different than any other semi-auto rifle, and all the scary “assault weapon” features are just cosmetic, then why do we need a special term for them? They’re all rifles. Call it a semi-auto rifle if you need to differentiate it from a boltie or a lever gun, but “modern sporting rifle” is such a clumsy term.
Good to hear it. Unfortunately people on our side have jobs and repsonsibilities, so we can’t camp out for weeks in end like Occupy. Also, I think you meant “original Greek and English”.
Hoorray for the sequester. It is said that if the sequester takes place it will likely derail the majority of Obama’s second term agenda. I say good. Thanks to all of the NY State gun owners, that was an awesome rally to see on tape. Maybe this will send a message to the rest of the democratic controlled states that this is not a roll-over and die issue for gun owners. Fight, fight, fight!
The marijuana legalization fight and the gun rights issue are two totally different things, please don’t even attempt to relate the two.
The natural, inherent right to own and use your property absent causing harm to others is an issue of LIBERTY, and it applies equally to plants and tools. It’s called Self-Ownership.
bloomberg quotes of the day:
“When it comes to the United States federal government, people do seem willing to lend us an infinite amount of money. … Our debt is so big and so many people own it that it’s preposterous to think that they would stop selling us more. ”
“You think the programs that I want are waste. And I think the problems that you want are waste.”
This dude has high hopes. and $25billion. Better watch out.