By Seanna Adcox
SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — The South Carolina House has rejected the Senate’s version of legislation allowing adults to carry a handgun without a permit, setting up another potential stalemate between the chambers’ ruling Republicans.
The House voted 85-26 along party lines Tuesday to strike the Senate’s changes entirely and send back the bill as it passed the House last year, despite Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey warning that could doom the effort. A single Democrat voted with the Republicans.
“I appreciate the work the Senate’s done, but there are issues with the bill,” said Rep. Bobby Cox, R-Greer, the bill’s main sponsor. “I look forward to working it out. That’s part of the governing process.”
A six-member House-Senate panel will attempt to work out a compromise.
The bill would eliminate all training requirements for walking around with a handgun readily available, whether visibly or concealed. Advocates call it “constitutional carry” as a reference to the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
Provisions added by the Senate earlier this month are intended to incentivize gun owners to go through the process of getting a concealed weapon permit, which includes an eight-hour training class on gun safety and legal do’s and don’ts, even though it would no longer be mandatory for carrying. The classes would become free, and anyone arrested for breaking a gun law would face higher penalties if they don’t have a CWP.
Massey made clear two weeks ago the Senate will not pass the bill without the incentivizes, which are opposed by far-right gun rights groups.
A simple vote to accept the Senate’s changes would have sent the bill to the desk of Gov. Henry McMaster, who’s eager to sign it. He’s been pushing for a different part of the bill that gives local and state law enforcement officers the ability to arrest more felons who are illegally carrying a gun — by aligning state law with federal law — and increasing penalties for repeat offenders.
While repeatedly asking for the so-called felon-in-possession penalties, the governor has avoided even mentioning “constitutional carry,” an idea officers have opposed for years. Law enforcement groups agreed to quiet their opposition as long as the part they really wanted stayed intact.
In a rare move, McMaster publicly blasted the House GOP last week after the majority caucus announced it would insist on its version.
The decision “keeps the ‘revolving door’ for career violent criminals wide open,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter. “For over two years law enforcement and victims of crime have been begging this General Assembly to pass a bill with stricter increased penalties for illegal gun use and possession. This is how we keep career criminals behind bars and not out on bond shooting and killing innocent South Carolinians.”
“The public is losing confidence,” he concluded. “So am I.”
Seanna Adcox is a South Carolina native with three decades of reporting experience. She joined States Newsroom in September 2023 after covering the S.C. Legislature and state politics for 18 years. Her previous employers include The Post and Courier and The Associated Press.
