Yesterday, the House passed H. 3094, the Open Carry with Training Act, by an overwhelming vote of 82-33.
While some gun groups think H. 3094 does not go far enough, this is a huge step for South Carolina. If passed by the Senate, the legislation would bring South Carolina in line with 45 other states that have some type of open carry of a handgun. Currently, South Carolina is one of 5 states that does not have ANY type of open carry of a handgun, putting us in the group with New York, California, Florida, and Illinois. We can do better.
The House will also consider another standalone bill H. 3096 which passed out of the full House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and is scheduled for floor debate in mid April. This bill is commonly referred to as the Constitutional Carry bill which requires no training.
I caught some grief yesterday from those that don’t know me and thought I was “anti-gun” (obviously they don’t follow me on Facebook with my hunting pics). What was their grief? They were upset that the House voted down an amendment that would have said “carry without training” – which is what H 3096 allows. Fifty Republicans voted this down along with Democrats. Why? Because a bill to allow that is coming to the floor and there was no need to risk placing that amendment on H. 3094. Many times, floor amendments end up hurting more than helping and many times amendment language is inartfully (and quickly) drawn. Obviously any floor amendments have not been vetted during the subcommittee and committee process to truly weigh the cause/effect.
If H. 3096 (Constitutional Carry) passes later next month, that would mean two strong, pro-Second Amendment bills will have been sent to the Senate for consideration. If you have any opinion on the upcoming H.3096 bill (Constitutional Carry – aka no training required), please continue to let me know.