SC Senate OKs ‘Constitutional carry’. How does it differ from House bill on guns

The Senate passed permitless carry in a 28-15 vote Thursday after hours of debate the day and week before.

After nearly five days of debate, the Senate’s version differs from what the House passed in 2023.

House bill 3594, known as Constitutional Carry, is legislation Gov. Henry McMaster supports.

Under current law, anyone who can legally own a gun needs a concealed weapons permit, which requires training to carry it publicly. This bill, however, allows all legal gun owners to carry publicly without a CWP.

The Senate included several amendments, making the bill different from what the House had pushed.

One of the amendments by Senator Margie Bright Matthews, D-Colleton, will expunge all prior unlawful carry convictions upon successful application for expungement. She also successfully passed an amendment dismissing all pending charges of unlawful carry once the bill becomes law.

Another amendment allows businesses to post signs prohibiting concealed weapons. Republican Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, proposed this amendment and one that defines the places where someone cannot carry a gun, concealed or not, and specifies punishments for doing so.

One of the most heavily debated amendments by Massey was put forth late into Wednesday night. The amendment’s multiple provisions includes one to create a training program free to participants available twice monthly in every county in SC, put on by SLED.

Sen. Mia McLeod, I-Richland said $5 million to $20 million for the SLED training program was something she could not support when lawmakers consistently dismantle education, don’t feed children for summer programs and refuse to expand Medicaid.

Massey’s amendment does not require the training.

The Senate also changed the age from 21 to 18 to carry a concealed weapon. The amendment also adds an extra penalty for those who don’t have a CWP and carry in prohibited places.

Democrats and other organizations raised concerns throughout the week about the bill, from safety and training to domestic violence and the Charleston Loophole.

“We’re just going to create more problems than we’re going to solve. I’m scared to death of it,” Sen. Ronnie Saab, D-Williamsburg, said.

Throughout the debate, many Republicans remained adamant that the bill would be giving South Carolinians their “god-given right,” to the second amendment. Other states have done it, they argued, and the bill is about allowing everyday people to execute their constitutional right.

Democrats raised concerns about racial profiling, and increased danger to both law enforcement and everyday citizens, especially when gun violence is already high.

“What we’re doing today is going to turn our state into the wild, wild west,” McLeod, said. “There is no language that expressly prohibits racial profiling. That is going to be a problem.”

Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Horry, said officers have continuously told him, with the enhancements they had tried to make, none of them have told him they want it. It is a “travesty” in South Carolina by putting “the best in blue in harms way.”

“We are treading on the rights of law abiding citizens,” Rankin, said. “We are muddying the water. We are not clarifying for them [officers]. We are not creating clarity, we are creating uncertainty.”

In an opposition speech before passing the bill, Rankin referenced police chiefs and officers who had testified against it. Some of those included the top officers in the Conway and Chief Dale Long of Conway, SC and Chief Jim Stewart of the South Carolina Police Chiefs Organization. Rankin talked about the extreme concern from officers, which is the lack of mandatory training.

“They oppose in the strongest possible terms for reasons of public safety our doing away with required training in this bill,” he said. “This is not Luke Rankin anti-second amendment right. I believe in it.”

After the bill passed, Sen. Deon Tedder, D-Charleston, said he has been against the bill since he debated it in the House when he was a representative.

“It’s not really a true constitutional carry bill,” Tedder said. “My issue is that this does not require any education, any training. It’s just a dangerous slope.”

“My hope is that the House will concur with their improvements and send it to my desk immediately so we can begin saving lives,” read McMaster’s statement after the bill passed.

Permitless carry will not be legal in South Carolina until the governor signs off on the bill. The bill will now go back to the House as early as next week where they will decide to rediscuss or send it to the governor.