Constitutional Carry Passes SC Senate with Changes that May Be a Poison Pill

Constitutional carry legislation passed the South Carolina Senate and returns to the state’s House on Tuesday, where representatives will weigh the acceptability of changes made by state senators.

On January 28, 2024, Breitbart News reported that the Senate was taking up constitutional carry legislation, HB 3594, which had already passed in the House.

On February 2, the Center Square noted the Senate passed HB 3594 by a vote of 28-15. But changes were made in the Senate, and the bill must now return to the House for approval.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) are both warning that the changes made to HB 3594 must be stripped away in the House.

For example, GOA is warning that the Senate additions to the bill put “increased penalties for Constitutional Carriers” in place.

NAGR’s Dudley Brown echoed this concern in a letter to the House, writing, “This bill was rightly referred to as ‘Constitutional Carry’ when it left your chamber, but it cannot rightly be called so now due to the passage of Senate Amendment Number 36, which creates a new criminal penalty of exercising the Constitutional right to carry a weapon publicly without a permit.”

Queen City News observed that State Rep. Richie Yow (R), one of the original cosponsors of HB 3594, is making clear that Senate Amendment Number 36 is a nonstarter for his constituents.

Yow said, “I’m going to do what my constituents [want]. My constituents want me to vote against that amendment, and that’s what I’ll do.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a Turning Point USA Ambassador, and a pro-staffer for Pulsar Night Vision. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.