Constitutional Carry on the Move in South Carolina

AmmoLand ^ | January 29, 2024 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

South Carolina is moving closer to joining the 27 states that have restored Constitutional (permitless) Carry. In all 27 states, the vast majority of adults can carry loaded handguns in most public places without asking the government for permission to do so.

Florida’s permitless carry law does not allow for general open carry. Some of the 27 states have some places where carry with a permit is allowed, and carry without a permit is not.

In Arizona, a person with a permit can carry in a place that serves alcohol, as long as they do not drink alcohol and keep their weapon concealed. People who open carry in Arizona are not allowed to open carry in a bar.  Other states have other minor restrictions.

South Carolina legislators have been working to restore Constitutional Carry for a decade. The current bill, H. 3594, passed the House in 2023, 90 -30. Senator Shane Martin has been pushing hard to restore Constitutional Carry.  Senator Martin was instrumental in getting the bill out of the Senate committee. It will be voted on in the South Carolina Senate in 2024. From live5news.com:

This effort, to make South Carolina the 28th state to enact “permitless carry” or “constitutional carry,” would allow adults to openly carry loaded weapons without needing any training or a permit.

Senators began debate on the bill this week.

“That’s what people want the right to do: They want the right to exercise their Second Amendment rights without the infringement on government,” Sen. Shane Martin, R-Spartanburg and a longtime proponent of the measure, said.

[marktwain]

I give South Carolina about a 50% chance of passing Constitutional Carry this year. The president of the Senate and the chair of the Judiciary committee are two of the three Republicans most opposed to the bill.

[faithhopecharity]

sure hope so!

[Bob434]

These states also need to do away with any “brandishing” and assault laws they may have when uns are drawn to diffuse a situation but not used- make it easier to actuslly use a gun to stop crimes instead of punishing the person for removing the gun from their holster in the event of a crime being committed by others

[marktwain]

We have that in Arizona. We call it “Defensive display”.

[FLT-bird]

Excellent.

South Carolina
Louisiana
North Carolina

are all red states that haven’t passed it yet. The roadblock in Louisiana was the governor who is not out of office. The roadblock in North Carolina is the governor who’s term ends on Jan 1, 2025. If a Republican wins the governorship as appears likely now, North Carolina will pass it.

That leaves South Carolina. The governor has said he will sign it if they get the bill to him and the Republican controlled House passed it. Now if the Republican controlled state Senate passes it, they’ll adopt it too.

[mikelets456]

I would love this as my PA and UT carry are useless there....I get excited every year when this gets brought up, but it never gets past the senate. I seriously doubt it will again...sadly.

[MeganC]

“Florida’s permitless carry law does not allow for general open carry.”

True. But Florida has always allowed open carry for anyone who is going to or from hunting or fishing and for anyone who is in the act of hunting or fishing.

And way too many idiot cops in Florida have assaulted and arrested people who were acting well within their legal rights just because the idiot cops hate guns.

Example:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZk-1k_f2hjsBaNWq5mz9kQ

[Bob434]

cool- hopefully other states will get that or similar too- i remember back when the Mckulsky couple (sp?) “Brandished” weapons when blm was threatening to kill them- they got nailed for it- despite laws in that state clearly stating they had both the castle doctrine and another doctrine which covered outside the home too-

The whole purpose of having a gun is to either defend yourself with force OR protect yourself by just showing that you are armed and not going to take whatever the criminals are threatening you with

[bravo whiskey]

Until SC recognizes other state ccw they can KMA.

[faithhopecharity]

Understood. Unfortunately we seem to be stuck with moving one step forward at a time. I’m hopeful that eventually the whole sheit pile of infringements on and deprivations of our rights will get flushed