SC Republicans – Senn, Hembree, Rankin, Johnson, Campsen, Massey, Leatherman, Bennett, and Gustafrom vote ‘NO’ on Constitutional Carry

They just don’t get it.  Nine self-proclaimed Republican state senators, six of which are lawyers for crying out loud, believe that the Second Amendment, found in our Bill of Rights, is nothing more than a mere privilege for the government to grant to, or revoke from, the people. What a travesty!  Every freedom loving, liberty cherishing South Carolinian should be outraged. 

You don’t need to speak Latin to understand the original intent of the Second Amendment. Our lawyer legislators might offer lavish legalese to explain away how they support your 2nd Amendment right to keep a small caliber revolver in your nightstand, and even a shotgun for hunting vermin, while insisting that it’s no infringement upon you for the government to prevent you from bearing arms when you leave your homes unless you have a permission slip (permit). It is truly astounding that any educated person could be so wrongheaded.

We the People call it “Constitutional Carry”.  We’re not asking our elected officials to grant us a privilege.  We’re asking that they restore our right to keep and bear arms without any infringement.  That is exactly what the Second Amendment guarantees the citizens of the United States of America.  But I can hear the lawyer Senator Shane Massey (Republican) driving his fellow republican senators away from the truth with nonsense like – Focus on the well-regulated militia part of the Second Amendment. Ignore the rest of it. And sadly, eight of them did! 

Massey and eight other Republican state senators in South Carolina voted to kill an amendment to an ‘Open Carry’ bill that would have aligned South Carolina with twenty other states.  Twenty states, some recently, some years ago, have restored Second Amendment rights.  They have passed what is now commonly referred to as “Constitutional Carry”.  But not South Carolina!  When it comes to gun laws, thanks to the Nullifying Nine, when it comes to the right to bear arms, South Carolina is still keeping company with New York, Illinois, and California!  Shameful.

Only the most deceitful can argue against this cold, hard fact.  If I need a permit to bear arms, I do NOT have the right to bear arms.  Permits and licenses are revocable.  That makes whatever behavior / action the permit or license is permitting – a privilege.  By the Nullifying Nine’s votes, they must now concede that they believe the Second Amendment guarantees nothing to the people – a mere privilege to be granted only by the government. 

So, who are South Carolina’s Nullifying Nine – these freedom and liberty republican obstructionists?  The lawyers come first because they should know better. 

Sandy Senn (lawyer) – District 41- Charleston and Dorchester Counties

Greg Hembree (lawyer) District 28 – Horry and Dillon Counties

Luke A. Rankin (lawyer) – District 33 – Horry County

Michael Johnson (lawyer) – District 16 – Lancaster & York Counties

George (Chip) Campsen (lawyer) – District 43 – Charleston, Beaufort, & Colleton Counties

Shane Massey (lawyer) – District 25 – Aiken, Edgefield, Lexington, McCormick, and Saluda Counties

And the remaining three republicans that were part of letting all freedom-loving South Carolinians down…

Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. (born April 14, 1931) serving since 1981. The 31st District, Florence, South Carolina. Considered one of the most powerful people in South Carolina politics.   CAREER POLITICIAN – Needs to retire!

Sean Bennett (Financial Planner) – District 38 – Summerville, Dorchester County

Penry Gustafron (Non-Profit Coordinator) – District 27 – Chesterfield, Kershaw, & Lancaster Counties

I am very disappointed in these nine republican state senators as a result of their vote to kill the “permit-less” carry amendment.  All the rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights restrain the government in some manner.  Yet the Nullifying Nine believe the Second Amendment is the exception.  It just doesn’t make sense.  The people that they may fear going about armed with a concealed weapon – without a permit or training – those people already are carrying concealed weapons! They must know this to be true, so why infringe upon the rights of law-abiding citizens?  

When the Bill of Rights was adopted, the “well regulated militia” included all men with firearms.  We the People were, and still are the universal militia.  We are the last line of defense for our country.  We the People, well-armed, are a worthy deterrent for any adversary that would dare attempt to land ground troops upon American soil.  Sometimes it is useful to fathom what is not fathomable to gain a more focused perspective and direction in life. 

What messages did our founders leave to guide South Carolina’s Nullifying Nine?  Did our Nine even bother to look? 

Thomas Jefferson wrote that “no freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”  (1776)

George Washington said, “A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined.”  (1790) 

George Mason said, “I ask who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers.”  (1788)

Patrick Henry said, “Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are ruined…The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.”  (1778)

Samuel Adams said, “The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”  (1778)

These quotes make it abundantly clear what the original intent of the Second Amendment was, and remains.  Our rights are not subject to popular vote!  Just because some people may fear certain freedoms and liberties, or despise them because they stand in the way of a sinister agenda, doesn’t make those rights diminishable or disposable. 

I’ll leave you with this most accurate and deliberate thought found in Thomas Jefferson’s Commonplace Book.  It thoroughly explains why every peaceable citizen has the God-given right to go about armed, concealed or otherwise, without the government’s knowledge or permission. 

“The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”  –  Thomas Jefferson, Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776

The good people of South Carolina will never stop fighting for full restoration of our Second Amendment rights.  When the next legislative session begins, we’ll be there with a larger coalition of like-minded people, ready to do the hard work that must be done to recapture what should have never been lost.