If you are a Palmetto gun rights member you have probably already received an email.
In the South Carolina state senate: a committe is meeting to consider concealed carry in restaurants (currently CC in restaurants that serve alcohol is not allowed.) There is a hearing this Wednesday the thirteenth. The bill is S308.
Please contact the committee members and urge them to put the bill before the floor:
Senator Shane Massey (chairman) (803) 212-6024 [email protected]
Senator Katrina Shealy (bill sponsor) (803) 212-6056 [email protected]
Senator Creighton Coleman (803) 212-6032 [email protected]
Senator Sean Bennett (bill sponsor) (803) 212-6116 [email protected]
Senator Floyd Nicholson (803) 212-6000 [email protected]
I sent an email to all five; here's a copy of what I sent:
Dear Senator Nicholson,
Thank you for serving our state on the committee to consider S308. I sincerely hope that you recognize the importance of furthering the right of law abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families. I strongly supported passage of the law about 20 years ago to allow concealed carry, but I was very disappointed when I heard of the restriction about carrying in restaurants.
By not allowing law abiding citizens to carry protection in restaurants you may as well put up a neon sign at the front door of the building advertising to the psycopath-would-be-active-shooter that there is a convenient grouping of unarmed sheep for the slaughter. Nearly every mass killer in American history has sought out such a venue for his mayhem.
Concerns about firearms in a location that serves alcohol should not cause responsible people to have their rights restricted.
Almost every time I am out with my family or friends, I have to relinquish my right to protection because going to a restaurant falls somewhere in the days activities. It is not feasible, for example, to take the gun back to the car when I have walked a mile and a half into the center of downtown Greenville from the parking garage before stepping into a restaurant. Instead I'm forced to find myself on a long walk back to the car, unarmed, when the nights activities are over. In a group I still feel relatively safe but if it's just my wife and I, or my wife and daughter and me, I can tell you there are times we have chosen to stay at home instead.
When concealed carry first started here two decades ago there was, as there is now, a provision for businesses to placard that guns were not allowed on their premises, and quite a few did. Now, you almost never see the signs. The initial paranoia apparently gave way to a realization by most sensible people that places of commerce are safer, and busier when they are not advertised, "gun free zones."
Many are familiar with the story of "Luby's Massacre" and Suzanna Hupp who dutifully left her pistol in her car due to just such a restriction in Texas years ago. She watched in horror as both of her parents were shot along with 48 other people as the gunman reloaded several times, strolling around the restaurant killing at will in the "gun free zone".
Bad people ignore laws at will and do bad things; they always have, they always will. People have a right to protect themselves and the ones they love. It just doesn't make sense to continue to strip down innocent people and make them ripe for the slaughter by criminals who disregard laws due to a paranoia or fear about guns. Having firearms tucked in the belts of responsible citizens doesn't result in, "the wild west" as some proclaim -- it results in countless crimes prevented WITHOUT a shot being fired because criminals know their prey has a right to protect themselves and fight back if they need to.
PLEASE support my right to protect my family and myself and ensure this bill becomes law. My daughter or wife may someday escape being a victim because of your actions; and it will far more likely be a preventative, "innoculation" than any shots fired. I can't imagine how many lives have already been saved, beatings and rapes prevented; because we've kept criminals on the streets guessing these last twenty years.
Respectfully, (my name and address)
In the South Carolina state senate: a committe is meeting to consider concealed carry in restaurants (currently CC in restaurants that serve alcohol is not allowed.) There is a hearing this Wednesday the thirteenth. The bill is S308.
Please contact the committee members and urge them to put the bill before the floor:
Senator Shane Massey (chairman) (803) 212-6024 [email protected]
Senator Katrina Shealy (bill sponsor) (803) 212-6056 [email protected]
Senator Creighton Coleman (803) 212-6032 [email protected]
Senator Sean Bennett (bill sponsor) (803) 212-6116 [email protected]
Senator Floyd Nicholson (803) 212-6000 [email protected]
I sent an email to all five; here's a copy of what I sent:
Dear Senator Nicholson,
Thank you for serving our state on the committee to consider S308. I sincerely hope that you recognize the importance of furthering the right of law abiding citizens to protect themselves and their families. I strongly supported passage of the law about 20 years ago to allow concealed carry, but I was very disappointed when I heard of the restriction about carrying in restaurants.
By not allowing law abiding citizens to carry protection in restaurants you may as well put up a neon sign at the front door of the building advertising to the psycopath-would-be-active-shooter that there is a convenient grouping of unarmed sheep for the slaughter. Nearly every mass killer in American history has sought out such a venue for his mayhem.
Concerns about firearms in a location that serves alcohol should not cause responsible people to have their rights restricted.
Almost every time I am out with my family or friends, I have to relinquish my right to protection because going to a restaurant falls somewhere in the days activities. It is not feasible, for example, to take the gun back to the car when I have walked a mile and a half into the center of downtown Greenville from the parking garage before stepping into a restaurant. Instead I'm forced to find myself on a long walk back to the car, unarmed, when the nights activities are over. In a group I still feel relatively safe but if it's just my wife and I, or my wife and daughter and me, I can tell you there are times we have chosen to stay at home instead.
When concealed carry first started here two decades ago there was, as there is now, a provision for businesses to placard that guns were not allowed on their premises, and quite a few did. Now, you almost never see the signs. The initial paranoia apparently gave way to a realization by most sensible people that places of commerce are safer, and busier when they are not advertised, "gun free zones."
Many are familiar with the story of "Luby's Massacre" and Suzanna Hupp who dutifully left her pistol in her car due to just such a restriction in Texas years ago. She watched in horror as both of her parents were shot along with 48 other people as the gunman reloaded several times, strolling around the restaurant killing at will in the "gun free zone".
Bad people ignore laws at will and do bad things; they always have, they always will. People have a right to protect themselves and the ones they love. It just doesn't make sense to continue to strip down innocent people and make them ripe for the slaughter by criminals who disregard laws due to a paranoia or fear about guns. Having firearms tucked in the belts of responsible citizens doesn't result in, "the wild west" as some proclaim -- it results in countless crimes prevented WITHOUT a shot being fired because criminals know their prey has a right to protect themselves and fight back if they need to.
PLEASE support my right to protect my family and myself and ensure this bill becomes law. My daughter or wife may someday escape being a victim because of your actions; and it will far more likely be a preventative, "innoculation" than any shots fired. I can't imagine how many lives have already been saved, beatings and rapes prevented; because we've kept criminals on the streets guessing these last twenty years.
Respectfully, (my name and address)
