The predicted standoff on open-carry gun legislation in South Carolina is underway, triggered by Tuesday's passage of a version House Republicans call "clean carry".
It's their follow up to last week's scorched-earth rejection of the Senate's compromise version of open or "constitutional carry." It included a package of tougher sentencing laws anyone convicted of a gun crime who had not taken the State's concealed weapons permit training to be offered sta tewide at no cost.
House leaders refused to even consider the Senate version, denouncing it as "compromise carry," opposing the whole concept of the permit less carrying of firearms in public, concealed or otherwise.
The House GOP Caucus' statement urges the Senate to join them, quoting, "enacting a law that not only upholds our citizens' freedoms but also enhances the safety of our communities." Failure to agree will doom Constitutional Carry for this session of the General Assembly.
