News from S.C.

A day before the South Carolina House is expected to start an hourslong debate over legislation that would allow a permitted gun owner to openly carry, a panel of lawmakers were slated to clear an even more expansive measure that would strike the permit requirement entirely.

The House Judiciary Committee passed a proposal Tuesday in a 18-6 vote that would allow constitutional carry in South Carolina, the constitutional belief that any legal gun owner should be allowed to own a gun without regulations.

State lawmakers don’t expect the constitutional carry measure to reach the debate stage until April, possibly before the crossover deadline to send the legislation to the Senate, well after the House passes the state budget.

This is good, yes?  Constitutional carry.  Hold on.

But what the hearing over constitutional carry offered was a preview of how far some Republican House members will try to pull the debate Wednesday when a mostly Republican-led coalition attempts to pass a bill that would allow permitted gun owners to carry publicly where guns are allowed.

“It became clear there was a substantial amount of support for constitutional carry, not only from traditional Second Amendment right advocates, but supporters of (Democratic state Rep. Justin) Bamberg’s amendment to change it to a constitutional carry bill,” said state Rep. Micah Caskey, R-Lexington. “(It) made sense to offer you an opportunity to showcase your support.”

The dynamics of the debate break down like this:

House Republican leaders are ready to adopt an open carry bill while keeping permit laws in place, legislation that has the best opportunity for passage and falls more in line with public polling that shows South Carolinians are more comfortable with making sure gun owners have permits, not the alternative.

But a few Republican legislators are ready to tack on an amendment that would take the measure further, allowing any legal person to carry a gun without a permit.

They’re trying the “poison pill” approach.  Notice who offered the amendment up – Bamberg, a reprehensible controller.  He later admits it, saying, ““I don’t see how we can have a constitutional carry bill that lets people carry without a permit, without training and carry anywhere except at the places that our state takes money from their paycheck to fund,” said Bamberg, D-Bamberg. “I don’t see how we can do that.”

Normally I’d say to jump on this and make everyone take a stand in public.  But in this instance I’d say let’s be incrementalists.  After open carry is passed, then you can tackle constitutional carry.

The S.C. senate is already balking.

Another problem for constitutional carry backers is that Senate Republicans are unsure whether such an expansive proposal could pass their chamber, a body that has denied similar bills before.

State Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, told The State while he supports constitutional carry — and has sponsored a bill in favor of it — he was not confident that it could pass the upper chamber.

But, he added, “there were not enough votes to expand gun rights. I believe that there now are enough votes in the Senate to expand gun rights. I just don’t know how far, and we’re going to find out.”

The left is always the best at strategy, displaying amazing patience concerning their goals.  It’s time we took a page from that book.

Start with open carry.  Leave constitutional carry for next year.  In the mean time, work your senators.  Work them hard, both on open carry (this year), and constitutional carry (next year).