H.3405 - Elected officials to carry

L

Low Branch

New Member
H.3405 was introduced by Rep. Vick on the House floor on 20 Jan 2011 and referred to the Committee on Judiciary. This bill adds on line of text to Section 2331240 of the Code of Laws:
Notwithstanding any other provision contained in this article, the following persons who possess a valid permit pursuant to this article may carry a concealable weapon anywhere within this State, when carrying out the duties of their office:
(13) any other elected or appointed public official.?
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Elected and appointed officials can carry currently as long as they follow the same rules as your or I: However, this legislation (a similar bill failed last year) gives them rights that we do not share bringing them to a level of elitist rulers.
 
J

jmt2566

New Member
I absolutely agree. If they feel that I should be safe enough in designated "gun free" zones then they should be just as safe right?

Are all elected and appointed officials going to be able to carry or are they going to have to pass criminal background checks and such just like any other CWP holder. If the same, then I do not understand the need for a separate bill to cover them. If not the same, why not?

Jeff
 
L

Low Branch

New Member
It was explained to me from last years bill by Rep. Nelson Hardwick, 106, that this would allow legislators who have a valid CWP to carry ANYWHERE. He was a co-sponsor on last years bill but withdrew his support after numerous complaints. The elected/appointed officials item will be #13 on the list if passed, behind judges and social workers and several others...
 
R

Red Hat

New Member
H.3405 was killed in sub-commitee

Another attempt dies in Sub-committee!

http://www.wistv.com/global/story.asp?s=13920244

Gun-rights activists defeat SC gun bill

Posted: Jan 27, 2011 12:41 PM EST Updated: Jan 27, 2011 12:41 PM EST

COLUMBIA, SC (AP) - Gun-rights activists have defeated a proposal to expand gun rights for elected officials in South Carolina.

A House subcommittee rejected the bill Thursday after getting complaints.

The bill would have allowed elected officials and their employees who hold concealed carry permits to take a gun anywhere. They would have been exempt from laws limiting where permit holders can carry guns.

Democratic Rep. Ted Vick of Chesterfield says he introduced the measure in response to the shooting in Arizona of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. The National Guard officer says he'd hate to be giving a speech and watch his constituents being shot.

But gun-rights activists say politicians should not get special privileges. They wanted the exemption expanded to anyone with a permit.
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T

Treedodger

New Member
Here is the grassroots email I received in response to the hearing on H3405
This organization has a direct impcat on our daily lives and carry rights. Please support them through your membership at
http://www.scfirearms.org/

**Action Alert UPDATE - H. 3405**

January 28, 2011:

YOU DID IT! Thanks to your efforts, H. 3405 was killed!

GrassRoots met early Thursday morning at the statehouse to organize
the GrassRoots Gorillas prior to the subcommittee meeting on H. 3405.
SC Campaign for Liberty and SC Libertarians also called for people to
support GrassRoots in opposing H. 3405.

Spectators filled the subcommittee room to overflowing. Rep. Viers,
chair of the subcommittee, commented a couple of times about how the
pro gun
folks had turned out in large numbers.

There were two other bills on the subcommittee agenda ahead of H.
3405. As discussion on each of these bills concluded and people left
the room,
more gun rights supporters waiting in the hallway flowed into the
subcommittee room to support GrassRoots efforts to kill H. 3405.

Dr. Robert Butler, GrassRoots GunRights V.P and Legislative Director,
was the first member of the public to speak on H. 3405. Dr. Butler
spoke
from the heart without notes, and the meeting was not recorded, so we
can only report the gist of what he said.

Dr. Butler first thanked the subcommittee for the opportunity to
speak. Then, he apologized for GrassRoots sending two letters to the
subcommittee,
but explained that the two letters were a result of the House failing
to properly notify the public about the very existence of H. 3405. The
House
failed to list H. 3405 in the legislative index under the heading of
"weapons" as it should have done. The first GrassRoots letter asked
the
subcommittee to kill H. 3405 since it was too broken to fix. The
second GrassRoots letter replaces the first letter and instead asks
the subcommittee
to amend H. 3405 - with an amendment that GrassRoots already drafted -
so as to provide all concealed weapon permit (CWP) holders with the
same privileges that politicians were asking to get for themselves.

Since Rep. Viers was impressed with the pro gun turnout, Dr. Butler
told the subcommittee that if GrassRoots had been given more notice
about
H. 3405 there would have been even more pro gun people in attendance.

Dr. Butler informed the subcommittee that a few years earlier the
federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had reviewed the research
done on
the effectiveness of gun control laws. The CDC found no valid evidence
that all of the gun control laws combined had saved any lives.

How could that be, he asked rhetorically. Dr. Butler then answered his
own question.

In order to believe that gun control laws could save lives, one would
have to believe that people could not be trusted to do the right
thing, but still
believe that these very same untrustworthy people could be trusted to
obey the gun control laws.

In order to believe that gun control laws could save lives, one would
have to believe that evil people willing to violate God's laws against
murder,
rape, and robbery would not be willing to violate man's law against
using a gun to violate God's law.

Dr. Butler stated that fighting crime by passing gun control laws
would be like fighting alcoholism by passing laws to prohibit liquor
sales to Mormons.

Dr. Butler stated that evil is something within a person, not a gun,
and that the good people who possess a CWP should be allowed to carry
wherever they feel a need to do so. Public safety would be improved by
deleting the CWP prohibited carry locations from the law for all CWP
holders, not just politicians.

Dr. Butler then asked the subcommittee to either amend H. 3405 with
the GrassRoots proposed amendment to extend the special privileges
sought by lawmakers to all CWP holders, or to, in the alternative,
kill H. 3405.

Every person who signed up to speak before the subcommittee about H.
3405 was against the bill. Every lawmaker who spoke on H. 3405
(except Rep. Vick, the bill's sponsor) opposed H. 3405.

Rep. Vick showed up late to the subcommittee meeting. So, instead of
speaking in favor of his bill prior to opening the debate to the
public,
Rep. Vick spoke in favor of his bill after the first few members of
the public spoke against the bill.

Rep. Vick stated that his intention was never to give special
privileges to politicians. Rep. Vick stated that his only concern was
increasing
public safety, especially after what recently happened in AZ. Rep.
Vick should have read his own bill because his bill simply added
politicians
to the list of CWP holders who could carry anywhere in SC.

It is interesting to note that Rep. Vick never once during the
subcommittee meeting stated he would support extending the special
privileges
he was seeking for himself to all CWP holders by supporting the
GrassRoots proposed amendment to H. 3405. Rep. Vick only sought
special
privileges for politicians, never once trying to extend his request to
enable all CWP holders to do as he wanted to be able to do.

After Rep. Vick spoke and tried to justify special privileges for
politicians due to the recent AZ shootings, GrassRoots Executive
Officer
Bill Rentiers added his name to the list of speakers in order to
refute such nonsense. Mr. Rentiers pointed out that the six people
killed during the
Tucson shooting were not politicians, they were citizens just like you
and me. Mr. Rentiers then recounted an incident where his daughter,
who is a CWP holder, was robbed, but was unarmed due to employer
policy. Mr. Rentiers stressed that no special privileges should be
given to public officials that every other law-abiding citizen could
not have.

All members of the subcommittee agreed they could not support H. 3405
as written and voted unanimously to kill the bill. The subcommittee
said it intends to pass future legislation extending gun rights, but
H. 3405 was just too broken to fix.

This victory belongs to YOU! You stopped a politician's attempt to get
special privileges for himself and his colleagues while leaving
out everyone else. GrassRoots GunRights monitors the legislation
politicians try to sneak through, and we keep you informed. It is
YOU, the members of GrassRoots and our supporters, who mobilized, made
the calls, sent the emails, and showed up at the hearings that
deserve the credit for killing H. 3405.

GrassRoots GunRights thanks you for all your hard work in defeating
this horrible bill.

Bill Rentiers

Executive Officer
 
C

ConditionOne

New Member
I was very glad to see this bill failed. I do hope the subcommittee does honestly intend to "extend" our gun rights and isn't just currying favor. (That really should be stated, "return our gun rights," since they wouldn't be giving us anything that wasn't already ours to begin with.) Time will tell.

For those of you not already members of GrassRoots, I encourage you to join. I've been a member since I got my CCW, and I've been impressed by how active they've been in fighting to maintain and return our 2A rights.
 
T

thebrasilian

New Member
ConditionOne said:
I was very glad to see this bill failed. I do hope the subcommittee does honestly intend to "extend" our gun rights and isn't just currying favor. (That really should be stated, "return our gun rights," since they wouldn't be giving us anything that wasn't already ours to begin with.) Time will tell.

For those of you not already members of GrassRoots, I encourage you to join. I've been a member since I got my CCW, and I've been impressed by how active they've been in fighting to maintain and return our 2A rights.
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+1
 
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