Greenville News:
A bill that would allow lawful gun owners to carry their firearms without a permit has been removed from the Senate Judiciary Committee’s meeting agenda, and the chairman is not saying when it may return.
Its removal came as lawmakers and political candidates have debated what should be done to combat school shootings, and it came just days before a bill related to school safety receives a Senate hearing on Wednesday.
The bill’s sponsor and members of the committee questioned this week by The Greenville News said they were not aware of the bill’s removal.
Sen. Luke Rankin, a Horry County Republican and chairman of the committee, said the bill was pulled by him to “to give full attention” to an abortion bill that was debated and passed by his committee Tuesday.
He said he did not know when the gun bill might return to the agenda but said its absence was not due to the recent school shooting in Florida.
Asked why he did not know when it might return, he said, “It was not on the agenda today. That is the answer.”
The controversial bill had been debated briefly at the last meeting of the committee two weeks ago, but no action was taken.
The so-called “Constitutional carry” or “open-carry” bill, sponsored by Sen. Shane Martin, a Spartanburg County Republican, would not do away with concealed weapons permits for those who wanted to carry their guns to other states.
[ … ]
On Wednesday a Senate judiciary subcommittee will hear a bill by Rep. Sandy Senn, a Charleston Republican, that would create the crime of threatening, soliciting or conspiring to threaten to use a firearm to cause injury, death or damage at a school, college or university.
This is news from February that I had missed because I wasn’t watching closely enough. State Senator Luke Rankin is dismissive and haughty because he doesn’t care about gun rights.
I’ve made it clear not only that gun control has its roots in wickedness, but gun control also to do with how a many bears his arms. Forcing a man to conceal his weapons is an act of shaming him and making him behave like a criminal.
But, he claims, they can’t chew gum and walk at the same time. They want to focus on an abortion bill. Good. We’ll see if anything comes of that. Meanwhile, they have the time to debate a bill that makes it a crime to engage in “threatening, soliciting or conspiring to threaten to use a firearm to cause injury, death or damage at a school, college or university,” or in other words, make something that is already a crime, a crime.
I think Senator Rankin is a liar and weasel. I think they can chew gum and walk at the same time, and I think he is being coy and dismissive in order to hide something.
What is he trying to hide? What does he believe about gun owners and their manner of carry that he isn’t telling us because he is cowardly and doesn’t want us to know?
I also think it’s time to Larry Martin Mr. Rankin. Mr. Rankin, you now have a target on your back. You’re next, so look for something to do with your time other than be a state senator.
