Treedodger
Member
Recently a bill was introduced in South Carolina in response to the Arizaona shootings that would have allowed legislators and other government officials to carry anywhere unrestricted in the state, but did not extend the same rights to licensed citizens. The Grassroots organization of South Carolina organized and was responsible for getting this bill defeated before it ever made it out of the hearing subcommittee. Below is a recount of the hearing from Grassoots in response to the hearing on H3405. If you live in South Carolina, please consider supporting this group fighting for our carry rights.
http://www.scfirearms.org/
Email response I received from Grassroots:
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.
http://www.scfirearms.org/
Email response I received from Grassroots:
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.
