South Carolina’s Right-to-Carry Reform Bill Pending Consideration!

House Judiciary Committee Members Need to Hear From You TODAY!

The language in South Carolina’s Right-to-Carry Reform bill, House Bill 3292, may soon be amended to restore this bill’s status as pro-gun legislation which the NRA will be able to once again support.  While in the House Judiciary Committee’s General Laws Subcommittee, this bill was amended to include flaws that the NRA could not support.  Once this bill was reported out of the subcommittee, the NRA began working with the original bill sponsor, state Representative Mike Pitts (R-14) and state Representative Thad Viers (R-68) who authored the amendment, to ensure that proper changes were made to the bill language to reclaim its status as pro-gun legislation.  However, H 3292 still remains in the House Judiciary Committee with only a few weeks left to 2011’s legislative session, and it needs your help to pass with the NRA-backed language adopted.   

H 3292 seeks to make a number of positive reforms to South Carolina’s current permit system.  These include:

• Expanding where a permit holder may lawfully carry a concealed firearm;
• Creating a straight recognition standard for valid permits issued by other states;
• Establishing a permitless firearm carry system statewide; and
• Eliminating the duplicative state licensing of firearms dealers (who are already licensed under federal law) and the antiquated prohibition on selling handguns that cannot pass an arbitrary “melting point” test.

This bill must be heard by the full House Judiciary Committee soon, so it is important for you to contact members of the House Judiciary Committee IMMEDIATELY and encourage them to support H 3292 with the NRA-backed language.  Contact information for the committee members can be found here.

We thank state Representatives Pitts and Viers for working with the NRA to support the necessary amendments to this bill, and also thank all other state Representatives who have signed on as cosponsors to H 3292.  Please contact these Representatives to express your thanks for their support of Right to Carry Reform!  A list of Bill Sponsors can be found by clicking here, while contact information for members of the state House can be found here.