Palmetto State lawmakers officially became the latest to do away with permitting requirements for public gun-carry.
The South Carolina Senate passed H. 3594 by a 28-18 vote on Wednesday. The measure will allow adults eligible to own a handgun to carry it in public, openly or concealed, without a permit. It now heads to the desk of Governor Henry McMaster (R.), who has pledged to sign it into law.
The bill’s passage clears the way for South Carolina to become the 29th state to adopt permitless carry and the 27th since 2010, in what has arguably been the most successful policy push of the modern American gun-rights movement. At the same time, South Carolina is the sole remaining trifecta Republican state without permitless carry, suggesting the policy’s rapid growth could soon be stunted for the foreseeable future.
South Carolina’s status as the lone trifecta Republican holdout among permitless carry states was not for lack of trying by advocates. A permitless carry bill cleared the state’s House in three previous legislative sessions but never cleared the state Senate during that time despite Republicans controlling both chambers.
Policy differences between the two legislative bodies nearly derailed this year’s permitless carry effort as well. While both chambers passed a version of the policy, lawmakers in the state Senate attached amendments creating stiffer penalties for illegal gun possession and designating new sensitive places off-limits to gun carriers in order to get more moderate and swing-district senators on board. The Senate version also included exemptions from the sensitive place restrictions for sitting lawmakers and optional state-financed training courses for prospective gun carriers.
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