Today, we took a huge step in the right direction to protect and advance our 2nd Amendment rights!
Last week, the SC Senate sent back the Constitutional Carry bill the House passed last year. With the bill’s return to the House came Senate amendments, most of which watered down the bill and failed to fully to protect gun owners’ rights in South Carolina.
We were particularly concerned by provisions added by the Senate to increase criminal penalties for citizens without a CWP while completely exempting legislators from carry laws—which we exposed Tuesday in our Substack, “Laws for Thee but Not for Me.”
At first, House Leadership was pushing for the bill to pass with the anti-gun Senate amendments, but the South Carolina Freedom Caucus could not support the bill in its current form. Dark money groups even sent out texts in some of our members’ districts, claiming we were wavering on the 2nd Amendment. Nonetheless, SCFC members Thomas Beach (Anderson) and Rob Harris (Spartanburg) boldly drafted amendments to strengthen the bill and strip away the Senate’s changes.
This was no small undertaking. House Leadership even drug the NRA into the fray to try to pressure us to stand down. It was made very clear to us that the NRA (reluctantly) would not support our changes to the bill and would negatively score whatever course of action we pursued that did not end with us supporting the Senate changes. Establishment legislators took to Facebook to criticize us.
Rather than give up on the fight, we chose to side with our grassroots allies as well as Gun Owners of America, Palmetto Gun Rights, National Association for Gun Rights, and Young Americans for Liberty. Listen to our Chairman Adam Morgan as he staked out our position on the Charlie James show.
Well, we won. Today, we were informed that House Leadership will support amending the bill to strip any anti-gun amendments, rather than concurring with the Senate.
This would not have happened if not for you! Grassroots activists applied unending pressure on House members for the last week. Your calls, emails, and texts all worked. Once again, We the People have made a difference in the future of South Carolina.
But the fight isn’t over. The pressure you have applied on House members must continue to ensure that all amendments offered do in fact strengthen the bill. Additionally, please begin calling your Senators and ask them to support any pro-gun changes the House makes to the bill.
Find your Legislators here!
As always, we are so thankful for your support. It’s much easier to be bold and courageous knowing we have so many committed patriots at our back.
For liberty,
The South Carolina Freedom Caucus
Thank you SCFC for pushing for a clean Constitutional Carry bill. It is an affirmation of the Second Amendment-- ..."shall not be infringed".
Hey more guns will make more people safe, right? I mean our homicides, suicides and mass shootings have gone up since gun sales have gone up.