Gov. McMaster to sign SC’s open carry gun bill. But it won’t take effect right away
Gov. Henry McMaster will soon sign legislation that will allow South Carolinians with concealed weapons permits to carry their guns openly in public.
But even with the governor’s signature, the legislation will not take effect right away.
In the bill, lawmakers included a provision that gives law enforcement and the public three months — or 90 days — to prepare for the new gun regulation that will put the state in line with at least 45 other states that have some type of open carry law on the books.
State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said that 90-day clock is critical, but his agency — which is responsible for handling concealed weapons permits — has already started educating law enforcement and others about the bill.
“I think a lot of people don’t understand the legislative process,” said Keel, who opposed the bill. “And when they hear the House has passed something, the Senate has passed something, they don’t understand.”
The state House last week voted 83-34 to send McMaster the coined “open carry with training” legislation, agreeing to a handful of changes made by the Senate last week but rejecting another attempt to eliminate the state’s concealed weapons permit law altogether.
The vote was mostly down party lines, with a handful of Democrats — some of whom said they are concealed weapons permit holders — voting with their Republican colleagues.
The Senate made a few major technical changes to H. 3094, sponsored by state Rep. Bobby Cox, R-Greenville, whose main goal, he said, is to some day strip the permit requirement.
Senators tweaked the legislation to attempt to limit the federal government’s intervention over the coming state law. They added a measure to require that court clerks send pertinent records of legal actions that would bar someone from owning a gun to the State Law Enforcement Division within five days of those actions being filed with the court, and senators eliminated South Carolina’s $50 permit fee — worth about $5.5 million a year to the state’s top law enforcement agency helping it pay for FBI searches and personnel, among other assistance.
Keel told The State that the five-day window is helpful, a proposal that came about after nine Black Charleston churchgoers in 2015 were murdered by a white supremacist who was able to buy a gun despite that he had a felony drug charge on his record.
“We have records where people are convicted or plead guilty, or in some cases dismissed, ... but we don’t get those records in a timely fashion,” Keel said. “If we don’t have accurate reporting and timely reporting, (SLED could) inadvertently issue a CWP.”
Cox said there have been conversations to make sure the Legislature will cover that financial loss in budget proceedings.
“This is a joint effort really to put us in line with the rest of the country,” said Cox, a veteran and vice president of government affairs for SIG Sauer, a New Hampshire-based firearms manufacturer that provides law enforcement and the military with equipment. Cox does federal work for them with no business in the state, he said.
“This really does restore our constitutional rights,” he said.
The bill passed over the concerns of some of the top voices in law enforcement and in government.
“This law is a bad idea with possibly disastrous consequences. Law enforcement and even responsible gun owners have opposed it,” said Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin. “These new gun bills are too expansive, too permissive and provide too great an opportunity for more firearms to reach the hands of individuals who should not be in possession of them.”
Through the process, Keel had been adamant the bill will create potentially tragic situations between the public and law enforcement, who could be put in dangerous situations not knowing who holds a weapons permit to carry.
“Obviously we hope and pray it’s not going to be a problem,” Keel said.
The South Carolina Police Chief’s Association also was against the bill, including chiefs Skip Holbrook, of Columbia, and Luther Reynolds, of Charleston. Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott also was against the legislation.
Lawmakers shared theirs and others’ concerns.
“For a touristy state, how are we going to handle someone walking around with an open carry of a gun?” said state Sen. Gerald Malloy, D-Darlington.
“Law enforcement does not want this bill. The medical community does not want this bill. The business community does not want this bill,” said state Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston. “The question for me is who do we represent?”
House Republicans overwhelmingly avoided eliminating the state’s concealed weapons permit pushed last Wednesday by state Rep. Jonathon Hill, R-Anderson, who criticized the reporting requirement measure, saying it was “not a win for gun owners.” And they rejected an effort by state Rep. John King, D-York, to add a 5% tax to weapons sold in the state to give law enforcement more pay.
But another Anderson Republican, state Rep. Brian White, likened Hill’s request to a poison pill that would only kill the bill’s chances at becoming law. While the House passed a separate bill this year to eliminate the permit, the Republican-controlled Senate rejected an attempt to attach a similar measure to the open carry legislation last week.
“If I were elected emperor, this would be the law of the land. Unfortunately, regrettably, and maybe graciously and fortuitously for some, I am not,” said state Rep. Micah Caskey, R-Lexington, who co-sponsored the constitutional carry legislation the House passed.
“Don’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Don’t gamble with something that you know will lose, ... and then make a Facebook post,” Caskey added, a comment directed at Hill, known for posting videos to Facebook, speaking out against his Republican colleagues.
South Carolina has issued more than 582,000 concealed weapons permits.
That regulation might be lauded by law enforcement. But Cox and other lawmakers say they are hopeful that the Legislature, particularly the Senate, will one day support permitless carry — a measure law enforcement have vehemently opposed.
Cox told The State going without permits would be the “least discriminatory measure when it comes to carrying a firearm.”
Kimpson, who is Black, disagrees.
“If you add on the racial profiling that already exists, if you add guns, then that’s going to lead to greater incidences of shooting of African Americans unlawfully,” Kimpson said, giving the example of the 2014 shooting of an unarmed Black man during a traffic stop.
Former state Highway Patrol Trooper Sean Groubert, who is white, pulled Jones over for not wearing a seat belt. When Jones exited his car, he reached for his wallet inside and, within seconds, Groubert shot Jones multiple times.
Groubert was later sentenced to prison.
This story was originally published May 12, 2021 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Gov. McMaster to sign SC’s open carry gun bill. But it won’t take effect right away."
