South Carolina is far from conservative when it comes to gun laws. Too many lawmakers in the SC Statehouse claim they’re republicans while treating the rights guaranteed under the 2nd Amendment as a privilege that must require a license or permit to exercise. When it comes to openly carrying a handgun holstered on the hip, South Carolina is keeping company with extreme liberal sanctuaries like New York, Illinois, District of Columbia, and California. 

South Carolina is supposed to be a red state.  It’s supposed to be the basket of deplorables Hillary Clinton spoke of in September 2016 during her presidential campaign.  Clinton said, “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right?  The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up.”

If half of Trump’s support in South Carolina are in the basket of deplorable category, then the other half, according to liberals, was properly described by Barrack Obama in 2008 when he spoke of those Americans that cling to their guns and religion.

Speaking at a San Francisco fundraiser, Obama said, “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years, and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate, and they have not. “And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or antitrade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

It must be noted that during the first three years of the Trump Administration, 95,000 new jobs have been added in South Carolina.  Unemployment rates for the South Carolinian gun and religious clinging basket of deplorables, as well as the rest of the state population, was at an historical low of 2.6% in October 2019.  In December 2019, the unemployment rate in Charleston, SC was 2.0 percent.  Not only did towns regenerate, the entire state has regenerated under Trump.

What is more conservative than near statewide, full-employment when in December 2009 the unemployment rate was 11.7 percent?  Conservatives control the state house, senate, and governor’s mansion.  South Carolina has low taxes, believes that life begins at conception, favors work over welfare, while offering a hand up instead of a hand out.  Simply stated, conservative values rule the roost in South Carolina – except when it comes to carrying a handgun.

When it comes to openly carrying a handgun holstered on the hip, South Carolina is keeping company with extreme liberal sanctuaries like New York, Illinois, District of Columbia, and California.  Florida also infringes upon the rights of its residents to carry a holstered hand gun, presumably because it is Florida – a state that has spent decades trying to be red and blue.  Florida has had a real identity crisis every since the hanging, fat, or pregnant chad conundrum that took place after the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. 

In the South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 16, Crimes and Offenses, Chapter 23 – OFFENSES INVOLVING WEAPONS, Section 16-23-20 – Unlawful carrying of Handgun; exemptions:

It is stated:

It is unlawful for anyone to carry about the person any handgun, whether concealed or not, except as follows, unless otherwise specifically prohibited by law

The exemptions are if a person has a concealed weapons permit, or is employed in a manner that requires a handgun (must be licensed), or is a member of the U.S. Armed Forces and on duty, etc.  The process for a citizen to earn his or her concealed weapons permit in South Carolina is as cumbersome as it is excessive.  The fact that South Carolina opts to infringe upon a citizen’s right to bear a handgun on a visible holster was and remains wrongheaded, especially when it is legal to carry a rifle in the state.  The logic behind allowing a citizen to carry a visible rifle but not a visible handgun is perplexing. 

For liberty and freedom focused Americans living in the Palmetto State, there is hope for the necessary corrections to be made to Section 16-23-20.  For the past few years there have been variations of a bill floating around the statehouse that would make South Carolina’s handgun laws as you would expect from a conservative, southern red state.  Originally called the South Carolina Constitutional Carry Act of 2017, Section 16-23-20 of the 1976 Code would be amended to read:

Section 16-23-20 (A)   IT IS LAWFUL FOR ANYONE TO CARRY ABOUT THE PERSON AND HANDGUN, WHETHER CONCEALED OR NOT, EXCEPT AS PROVIDED FOR IN SUBSECTION (B) OR IF THE PERSON IS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED FROM OWNING, CARRYING, OR PURCHASING A FIREARM AS PROVIDED FOR BY STATE OR FEDERAL LAW.

Unfortunately, last legislative session some legislators felt threatened by supporters of open carry. Apparently, there was a treat of violence made toward one or more lawmakers in an attempt to force the passage of the open carry bill.  The bill was left to die in committee. 

This legislative session, H.3456 SC Constitutional Carry Act of 2019 was introduced on January 8, 2019.  The bill is currently residing in the House Committee on Judiciary.  The language found in H.3456 is not as concise as in the South Carolina Constitutional Carry Act of 2017.  However, organizations such as South Carolina Carry support the bill.  S.139 has the language found in the 2017 bill.  S.139 was recalled on May 8, 2019 from the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it was left to die last session. 

The politics surrounding open carry in South Carolina do not mesh with the state’s national reputation.  To be a red state, a conservative state, a state that enjoys a republican majority in the state house and senate, while having a republican governor; to continue to infringe upon constitutional rights to bear arms in the same manner as California, New York, and Illinois is a great source of embarrassment.  Elected officials in the SC Statehouse should realize what open carry supporters in Palmetto State are asking them to do is correct a wrong by fully restoring a right.  When an American wants to carry a handgun outside his or her house, for any reason, there should be no infringement.  In South Carolina, of all places, when a man or woman leave their home with a handgun holstered on his or her belt, there should be no fear of government intervention, arrest, confiscation, prosecution, conviction, and penalty to include incarceration. 

If you live in South Carolina and support the 2nd Amendment and liberty, please contact your state representative and state senator.  Tell them to please take action to get the open carry bills passed and on the governor’s desk for his signature.  Let them know how much you cherish freedoms and your constitutional right to bear arms.