South Carolina Could Become 29th Constitutional Carry State Before Week’s End

South Carolina’s constitutional carry legislation has been passed out of conference, and subsequently passed by the House, paving the way for the state to become the 29th constitutional carry state before week’s end.

Constitutional carry initially passed in the House last session then passed in the Senate earlier this year. But On February 5, 2024, Breitbart News reported the legislation had ground to a halt due to amendments added while the bill passed through the Senate.

After that, Greenville News noted that a legislative committee–comprised of three state Sens. and three state Reps.–took up the bill to finalize an agreeable version. The agreed upon version was released via a conference report and passed by the House on Tuesday of this week. The state Senate is scheduled to vote on the conference report today.

State Rep. Bobby Cox (R), a sponsor of the constitutional carry legislation and a member of the committee that hashed out differences on the bill after the Senate amendments, praised the conference report for protecting “freedoms.”

Cox spoke with Breitbart News on Tuesday, saying, “I urge our Senate colleagues to take this conference report up immediately so it can head to the Governor’s desk for signature. SC is ready to join the 28 other states that recognize the Constitutional freedom to carry a firearm and protect yourself and family.”

The other 28 constitutional carry states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming (Note: Louisiana’s constitutional carry law takes effect July 4, 2024.)

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 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.