COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina would offer free gun training and allow anyone who can legally own a gun to carry their weapon in public, under a bill passed by the Senate on Thursday.
The training was a compromise that ultimately ended two weeks of debate, convincing a handful of Republicans who were reluctant to openly carry guns without encouraging the class currently required to obtain a concealed weapons permit. – a position that also worried a number of law drafters. enforcement leaders.
The bill was approved by a vote of 28 to 15. One Republican voted against and one Democratic senator voted in favor.
The proposal now returns to the House of Representatives to see if they agree to the Senate’s changes.
Twenty-seven other states allow the open carrying of guns without a permit, including almost all states in the Deep South.
Traditional gun-free zones such as hospitals, schools and the Statehouse would remain, as would businesses that choose to ban guns.
The Senate version of the bill would also require a statewide advertising campaign to let people know about the free concealed weapons training classes, while also informing residents that guns can be carried openly by anyone 18 or older.
Proponents of the proposal also added increased penalties if someone is convicted of carrying a weapon in a place where weapons are prohibited and does not have the concealed weapons permit.
Allowing open carry of weapons has been a goal of Republican Senator Shane Martin since he was elected to the Senate in 2008. He said the bill isn’t exactly what he wanted, but it’s close and a compromise was needed to get it passed.
“I don’t think it’s going to cause as much trouble as they think because the one thing we have to remember is that the criminals will always be with us,” the Spartanburg County senator said.
Opponents of the compromise reached at 11:45 pm on Wednesday were still stunned when the final vote took place about 15 hours later.
Nearly all Democrats said Republicans wanted to spend millions of dollars on gun training and encouraging people to buy guns, while expanding Medicaid or summer feeding programs for poor children because it’s too expensive.
“I think what we do today will turn our state into the Wild West. No licensing, no training, not enough background checks,” said Sen. Mia McLeod of Columbia, an independent who often votes with Democrats.
Some conservatives were initially torn by the weight of some law enforcement leaders who said they are concerned about armed people with a lack of training and about officers arriving at shooting locations where they might encounter a number of armed people as they try to assess who is is a threat and is trying to help.
The bill includes new state penalties of at least five years when a felon is convicted of a crime involving a firearm. Police had been calling for this proposal for years, and its inclusion in the open carry law was seen as a compromise.
South Carolina’s Republican governor, Henry McMaster, has also urged lawmakers to approve the new penalties and asked the House to approve the Senate bill and send it to his desk as soon as possible.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey and Edgefield said the bill likely wouldn’t have passed without the free training and another proposal that would mean an additional three years in prison for someone convicted of a gun crime and without the license to carry it. concealed weapons did not take class.
Massey was not given a formal estimate of how much it will cost to provide at least two free training classes per week in each of the state’s 46 counties. Based on the number of concealed weapon permits issued annually in the state, he estimated it would cost at least $4 million.