A chronological history of GrassRoots activities concerning H. 3212

H. 3212: This bill would make South Carolina a “recognition” state instead of a “reciprocity” state. This means South Carolina would honor other states’ CWPs even without a reciprocal agreement. SLED would no longer be able to deny reciprocity with other states. This is important because SLED takes some extremely illogical positions to deny reciprocity. For example, SLED does not allow reciprocity with Florida because Florida’s CWP law does not specifically state former felons can not get a Florida CWP. GrassRoots pointed out to SLED that federal law makes it illegal for former felons to possess any firearm, and that states may not grant privileges that are contrary to federal law because federal law is the supreme law of the entire country. But, SLED feels they must protect South Carolina people from all of those former felons in Florida who will get Florida CWPs and then travel to South Carolina to shoot people here. Recognition laws in other states are the reason that SC CWPs are honored in most states, not our reciprocal agreements.
Principles Involved: The right to self defense is a basic human right. A basic human right exists independently of where you live or where you visit. Firearms are the most effective tools for self defense. To deny a person the tools to effectively exercise a right is the same as denying the right itself. The Second Amendment states the right to bear arms “shall not be infringed.” Thus, CWPs should not be required anywhere in America. CWP recognition laws do less to infringe upon the right to bear arms - and thus better protect the right to self defense - than do reciprocity laws. Every state should have a recognition law.
GrassRoots Position: GrassRoots strongly supports this bill and urges everyone to contact their elected representatives about this bill.
Current Status: On the Senate floor, but on the contested calendar.
Primary Sponsor: M. A. Pitts
Full Text: http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess117_2007-2008/bills/3212.htm

Feb. 14, 2007: House Unanimously given a favorable recommendation by the House Judiciary General Laws subcommittee.
Feb. 20, 2007: House Unanimously given a favorable recommendation by the House Judiciary Committee to the full SC House.
Feb. 22, 2007: House Bill did not receive 2nd reading. Procedural delay (24hr point of order) requested by Rep. Jeff Duncan
Feb. 27, 2007: Scheduled for 2nd reading before the House.
Feb. 28, 2007: Recommitted to Judiciary Committee.
Mar. 1, 2007: Vote reconsidered to send the bill to Judiciary Committee. Received 2nd reading. Roll call vote 100=yeas 2=nays. Unanimous consent for 3rd reading on the next legislative day.
Mar. 2, 2007: House Read third time and sent to Senate
Mar. 6, 2007: Senate Introduced and read first time. Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary
Mar. 7, 2007: Senate Referred to Subcommittee: Hawkins (ch), Sheheen, Lourie, Vaughn.
May 2, 2007: Senate Subcommittee unanimously voted to give a favorable recommendation and send the bill back to full Senate Judiciary Committee.
May 8, 2007: Senate Judiciary Committee voted to give a favorable recommendation and send the bill to the full Senate. Sen. Anderson attached a minority report to the bill.
Mar. 12, 2008 Senate Special order, set for March 12, 2008
Mar. 13, 2008 Senate Amended H. 3212. Read second time
Mar. 17, 2008 Senate Amended H.3212.
Mar. 20, 2008 Senate Amended, read third time and returned to House with amendments.
Mar. 26, 2008 House Non-concurred with Senate amendment & sent word to the Senate.
Jun. 3, 2008 Senate insists upon amendment and conference committee appointed Hawkins, Knotts, and Williams.
Jun. 4, 2008 House Conference committee appointed Reps. Delleney, Duncan, and Vick.
Jun. 5, 2008 House Conference report received and adopted. Roll call Yeas-87 Nays-11.
Jun. 5, 2008 Senate Conference report adopted.
Jun. 5, 2008 House Ordered enrolled for ratification.
Jun. 16, 2008 Signed By Governor

June 4th, 2008:

Rep. Delleney (author of H. 3212) told GrassRoots leaders that the House conference committee has signed off on the Senate version of H. 3212.

GrassRoots sent out an Action Alert asking everyone to contact their Representatives and ask them to reject the conference committee's recommendation to accept the Senate version of H. 3212.

May 22nd, 2008:

GrassRoots sent out an Action Alert asking everyone to contact their Senators and insist they pass the House version of H. 3212 this session.

May 21sth, 2008:

GrassRoots leaders were informed by a source inside the statehouse that the Senate plans to let H. 3212 die without appointing a conference committee.

May 20th, 2008:

The Senate has not responded to the House regarding H. 3212, and ignored citizen requests to move forward with a conference committee.

GrassRoots sent out an Action Alert asking everyone to contact their Senators and ask them to ACT on H. 3212 by assigning members to a conference committee.

April 29th, 2008:

GrassRoots sent out an Action Alert asking everyone to contact their Senators and Representatives and ask them to either accept the House version, or failing that, assign a conference committee with "free confeence powers" so they can amend H. 3212 and fix the serious flaws in the Senate version.

March 26th, 2008:

The House rejected the Senate amendment to H. 3212 and sent notice to the Senate that their amendment was rejected. The next step is for the Senate to reply to the House, either accepting or rejecting the House's version of the bill.

March 24th, 2008:

GrassRoots delivered this letter to each Representative, asking them to reject the damaging Senate version entirely and return H. 3212 to a recognition bill. GrassRoots asked that if the House were determined to pass a reciprocity bill, the letter from GrassRoots proposes alternative language to allow reciprocity with more states than existing law allows - something the Senate amendment would not do.

GrassRoots sent out an Action Alert asking everyone to contact their Representatives and ask them to reject the Senate amendment to H. 3212.

March 20th, 2008:

The Senate amended H. 3212 and returned it to the House, but did not fix errors of critical importance.

March 19th, 2008:

GrassRoots delivered this letter to each Senator, asking them to remove the amendment and return H. 3212 to a CWP recognition bill.

March 18th, 2008:

GrassRoots delivered this letter to each Senator, explaining some of the serious problems with the Knotts/Anderson amendment to H. 3212. GrassRoots asked the Senate to repeal the Knotts/Anderson amendment, or kill the bill completely. Senator Martin amended H. 3212 on the Senate floor trying unsuccesfully to correct problems in wording which would have caused SC to lose CWP reciprocity with other states.

March 13th, 2008:

Senator Jake Knotts teamed up with anti-gun Senator Anderson and successfully amended H. 3212 on the Senate floor. The amendment would make the CWP SC law so much worse than existing law, that South Carolina would not even qualify for reciprocity with itself! Sen. Knotts claims his amendment will require SC to honor any state that requires a firearms training course and a federal and state background check. The actual text of the amendment appears to be much worse than Sen. Knotts claims.

Sen. Knotts boasts on the Senate floor: "We still have a good bill, but I held it up last year and...vowed to hold it up FOREVER if I could." (See the video here)

March 12th, 2008:

H. 3212 was taken off the Contested Calendar and put onto the Special Order Calendar for tomorrow morning.

February 6th, 2008:

GrassRoots leaders met with Sen. Larry Martin to ask him to sponsor our Gun-Free Zones Liability Act, and to do what ever possible to get H. 3212 onto the special order calendar and onto the Senate floor for a vote. Sen. Martin is Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee. If Sen. Martin wants any bill to do so he can make it happen. Sen. Martin told GrassRoots leaders he would do this. Sen. Martin did not commit to sponsor the Gun-Free Zones Liability Act, but agreed to examine the bill and consider sponsoring it.

May 8th, 2007:

Several GrassRoots leaders & members attended a meeting of the full Senate Judiciary committee to support H.3212. GrassRoots faxed this letter to the Senate Judiciary committee.

May 2nd, 2007:

Several GrassRoots leaders & members attended the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee meeting to support H.3212. Committee voted unanimously to send the bill back to the full Senate Judiciary Committee with a favorable report. The meeting was recorded on videotape and may be placed on our website at a future date. GrassRoots faxed this letter to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee.

March 21st, 2007:

GrassRoots met briefly with Sen. John Hawkins, Chair of Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on H. 3212 to discuss his support for the bill and asked him to postpone any hearings on the bill until after our next Defender newspaper comes out in April, so that we can rally support for the bill. Sen. Hawkins agreed to postpone any hearings until late April.

March 1st, 2007:

House votes to reconsider yesterday's decision to have H. 3212 sent back to committee, and (despite a few dissenters) votes to give the bill its second reading. A motion was made for unanimous consent to give the bill its third reading the next legislative day, which passed. An objection was made by Rep. John Scott, but he was not quick enough and was too late to prevent it. GrassRoots captures the entire debate online via streaming video for future reference.

February 28th, 2007:

Certain House Representatives (who are opposed to H.3212) were able to have H. 3212 sent back to the Judiciary Committee. We met with Rep. Mike Pitts in his office regarding H. 3212 immediately afterwards.

February 20th, 2007:

The SC House Judiciary Committee met to consider several bills. Among them were the two firearms-related bills (H. 3310 and H. 3212) that GrassRoots has been closely monitoring. GrassRoots faxed this letter in support of H. 3310 and H.3212 to the members of the committee.

GrassRoots leadership attended the meeting along with several GrassRoots Gorillas armed with their orange clipboards, to take notes on the voting of each committee member. Both bills were approved unanimously by all committee members present. Attending the meeting were Dr. Robert D. Butler, Bill Rentiers, Ralph Baker, Greg Kenneally, Bill Griffin, Josiah Gardner and Talbert Black. Thanks goes out to the GrassRoots Gorillas for answering the call!

February 20th, 2007:

GrassRoots researched the information given by SLED Capt. Joe Dorton to the House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee on February 14th, 2007 that H.3212 would allow a 16yr old from New Hampshire to carry a concealed firearm in Myrtle Beach. These claims were deceptive. GrassRoots faxed this letter to the House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee to set the record straight.

February 14th, 2007:

The House Judiciary General Laws Subcomittee met to consider H. 3212. GrassRoots GunRights was the ONLY pro gun rights organization to attend the hearing in support of the bill. GrassRoots leadership gave the following statement before the House Judicary General Laws Subcommittee on H. 3212:

"Mr. Chairman and Honorable members of this subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to speak today on H. 3212 - a bill to amend the concealed weapon permit reciprocity law.

I hope that each of you have had the time to read the letter that I faxed to each of you earlier today. Unfortunately, I have just learned there is opposition to this bill.

Some will argue this bill needs to be amended to require "training" in other states before allowing people from those states to carry a self-defense sidearm in South Carolina. While such thinking is well-intentioned, it is unsupported by facts.

The truth of the matter is that required concealed weapon permit training has been proven to be unrelated to any public safety benefits. But, required concealed weapon permit training has been shown to result in violent crime rates remaining higher than such rates would be if there was no required concealed weapon permit training. Thus, required concealed weapon permit training is directly responsible for more women being raped, more people being killed, and more people being beaten than would have occurred had there not been any required concealed weapon permit training.

But, this bill is not about concealed weapon permit training in South Carolina, it is about allowing good people living in states more enlightened than we are in South Carolina to carry in South Carolina. Then, the good people of South Carolina can have the means to protect our families when we travel out of state. If this bill is passed as written, South Carolina concealed weapon permit holders will be able to carry in about 30 other states.

GrassRoots GunRights urges this subcommittee to pass H. 3212 as originally drafted. If you have any questions that you would like answered, I would welcome the opportunity to do so. Thank you."

SLED lobbyist Captain Joe Dorton also addressed the subcommittee. Capt. Dorton said that SLED had "concerns" (political speak for "opposes") about H. 3212. Capt. Dorton then told the subcommittee that this bill could allow a 16yr old from New Hampshire to lawfully carry a concealed firearm while in our state visiting Myrtle Beach.

The subcommittee unanimously voted in favor of H.3212 as GrassRoots requested.

February 14th, 2007:

As Bill Rentiers and Dr. Robert D. Butler were waiting for the General Laws subcommittee hearing to start, they stopped in to talk with Representative J. David Weeks, [D-Sumter Co.] a black Democrat, who sits on the subcommittee. Having just finished talking with Captain Joe Dorton of SLED, Bill and Dr. Butler knew SLED was going to oppose H. 3212 due to lack of a training requirement in some other states. So, they knew the issue they needed to address.

Representative Weeks stated that he had opposed the concealed weapon permit law back in 1996. But, after seeing what had happened during the last 10 years, he had to admit that he was wrong about the concealed weapon permit law. Representative Weeks stated he now supports the concealed weapon permit law.

Representative Weeks wanted to know who would oppose H. 3212. Dr. Butler told him SLED, and he told him why. Dr. Butler told Representative Weeks of how the required concealed weapon permit training taught people all about sight picture, sight alignment, how to slowly squeeze the trigger, proper breathing, and other techniques suitable for target shooting. Dr. Butler told Representative Weeks such training was totally useless in a self-defense shooting scenario. Dr. Butler pointed out that even highly trained law enforcement officers abandoned their training when looking at the wrong end of a gun. Dr. Butler then explained the Rule of Threes to Representative Weeks.

Representative Weeks then asked if GrassRoots was opposed to all concealed weapon permit training or only what was now being taught. Dr. Butler stated GrassRoots supported firearms training on a voluntary basis, but not mandatory training. Dr. Butler pointed out that he was an NRA certified handgun instructor, and had previously been certified as a range safety officer by the United States Army at both Fort Jackson and Fort Gordon as a civilian. Representative Weeks asked Dr. Butler how he could oppose concealed weapon permit training.

Dr. Butler stated the real issue is whether the government should be able to require demonstrations of proficiency prior to allowing an individual to exercise a right. Dr. Butler then asked Representative Weeks if Representative Weeks thought an educated voter - i.e., one who knew the Constitution, the laws of our state and nation, and who our elected representatives were - would be a better voter. As Representative Weeks started to nod his head in agreement, Dr. Butler asked why we don’t require a literacy test before allowing people to exercise their right to vote. Representative Weeks could now understand the principled stand taken by GrassRoots.

Representative Weeks signed on as a cosponsor to H. 3212 the very next day.

Copyright © 2008 GrassRoots GunRights of SC
Last Updated March 6, 2008
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