STATEHOUSE REPORT | ISSUE 20.07 | FEB. 12, 2021
BIG STORY: State Senate may be only hurdle to open carry gun bill
NEWS BRIEFS: S.C. leads nation in new average daily COVID-19 cases per capita
LOWCOUNTRY, Ariail: Booster shot
COMMENTARY, Brack: Return to government dullness lessens national anxiety
SPOTLIGHT: Riley Institute at Furman University
FEEDBACK: Responding to recent column on Santee Cooper
MYSTERY PHOTO: Another brick building
State Senate may be only real hurdle to open carry gun bill
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | Opponents of a measure that would allow handgun owners to carry their weapons in the open are relying on the state Senate to stop it in its tracks.
But the bill’s sponsor says an enlarged Republican majority in the state Senate may push the proposal toward ultimate passage after it gets through the S.C. House. Critics say the bill isn’t needed and has no general public benefit because there’s already a state process for citizens to carry concealed guns if they have required training.
Earlier this week, a House Judiciary subcommittee passed H. 3094, the open carry bill which requires training, on a 3-1 vote. In two weeks, the full Judiciary Committee is expected to approve the measure, which is cosponsored by more than half of S.C. House members. Passage by the full House is expected within a month, when it then would go to the state Senate, which picked up three GOP seats in the 2020 elections. Republicans now hold 30 of the Senate’s 46 seats.
“[With] the overall dynamic of the legislature with the increase of the Republican majority, there’s almost a mandate — an expectation — to pass conservative agenda items like the heartbeat bill and expanding Second Amendment freedoms,” said the open carry bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bobby Cox, a Greenville Republican who is a vice president of handgun manufacturer Sig Sauer.
“In talking with Leader [Shane] Massey in the Senate, they do like the bill as it is right now — open carry with training. It’s just a matter of timing.”
Opponents say open carry bill is dangerous
During subcommittee testimony and in interviews this week, opponents cautioned that the open carry proposal was dangerous to a society already smarting from the civil unrest of the Jan. 6 mob insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Passing open carry right now is like adding fuel to the fire,” said Meghan Alexander, founder of Arm-in-Arm , a South Carolina advocacy group filled with gun owners who want to reduce gun violence. It got started in 2015, shortly after the massacre of nine worshippers at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
“It puts strain on law enforcement already struggling with rising violent crime, on business owners already feeling economic strain, on hospitals struggling with COVID and on the first generation of kids who grew up with shooter drills like mine,” said Alexander, a Mount Pleasant resident. (Read Arm-in-Arm’s statement on open carry.)
What’s most worrying, she added, is how open carry would create an environment where the solution to disagreements could be in a gun on someone’s hip, she said, adding, “Law enforcement and medical folks are saying, ‘Do not do this, because it will cause more injury, more death.’”
Charleston Police Chief Luther Reynolds told Statehouse Report the open carry legislation was weaker than similar laws in other states because it does not preclude gun owners from carrying pistols in the open at protests, parades and events.
“They’re expanding this very quickly and, I think without a lot of thought and discussion,” Reynolds said.
Cox fired back he believed the measure would improve safety.
“Open carry with training would allow citizens to respond when police weren’t able to respond during calls or weren’t able to respond as we saw during the protests this past summer in Charleston,” he said.
Bill opponent Dean Foster of Meggett, who has worked with Arm-in-Arm, provided testimony at this week’s hearing on why the open carry measure was troublesome.
“South Carolina is already among the nation’s worst states for gun violence and, as of 2017, is ranked 12th nationally for per-capita gun deaths,” he said. “This creates enormous socio-economic costs for S.C. taxpayers. Research shows states that allow open carry endure the worst rates of gun violence. We should work on policies to reduce S.C.’s rate of gun violence, not make it worse.”
Reynolds added the proposal could also hurt South Carolina’s $19 billion tourism economy.
“We want to attract people to where they feel safe,” Reynolds said. “Do you think that [open carry] is going to attract tourists? I’m a pro-Second Amendment guy. But it’s about balance, what’s in the best interest of our city, what’s in the best interest of public safety and public good. This doesn’t do that. … With our residents and our economy, this is not going to be a net positive.”
Cox said he understood such arguments and backed police, in general, but 45 other states had open carry laws.
“We are not reinventing the wheel and they [police] need to adapt to this mission if this bill passes,” he said. He added he would continue to support efforts for so-called constitutional carry, which would allow open carry without training.
What you can do
Alexander said citizens needed to let state lawmakers know where they stood on the open carry proposal.
First, they need to contact them by email, phone call or U.S. mail, she suggested.
Second, they should reach out to the state’s municipalities to get them to pressure state legislature to thwart the bill. “Local municipalities are going to have very little recourse one this passes,” Alexander said. “Home rule is something to consider, but why not reach out now?”
She also encouraged citizens to write letters to the editor to share their thoughts on the open carry bill.
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com. Make sure to add your name and contact information for verification.
S.C. leads nation in new average of daily COVID-19 cases
Staff reports | The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that South Carolina’s average of 62 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 tests over the last seven days was the highest of any state in the nation. As of today, Arkansas reported the second highest with 45 new cases per 100,000 tests, followed by Kentucky with 43.2.
As of Thursday, DHEC officials reported 1,428 new cases of the coronavirus and 84 additional deaths Thursday. With 20,613 tests reported Thursday, 10.3% were positive.
In other pandemic-related news:
Vaccine distribution problematic. South Carolina still has no official plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccines after the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control’s board made no decision on Feb. 11, The Post and Courier reports. By the time it acts, the General Assembly might offer its own solution.
Shipments also problematic. Vaccine shipments across the state may be delayed due to bad weather and unreliable shipping.
Teachers get thumbs up from Senate. Also this week, the state Senate voted unanimously on a resolution that would make teachers and critical school staff eligible for the coronavirus vaccine and require school districts to offer five-day-a-week classes in person to students. Gov. Henry McMaster opposes the idea.
In-person restaurant inspections to resume. Restaurant inspections statewide have been completed virtually since March 2020 due to the pandemic, but that could change soon, DHEC officials announced Wednesday. The state’s health department said it was “preparing for a phased-in return to in-person inspections,” adding that virtual appointments would continue to be its primary method for performing the inspections while the S.C. case count remains high.
Questions in advance. The agency also is now responding to criticisms that it’s requiring reporters to submit questions before briefings.
In other recent news:
Abortion bill on track. It looks like the so-called “heartbeat bill” that would essentially ban all abortions is on track to pass the S.C. Earlier in the legislative session, it passed the state Senate, which has been its stumbling block in past years.
Searching for a new poet laureate. The South Carolina Arts Commission is accepting applications through March 19 to assist in the search for a new poet laureate.
More: Charleston City Paper
Director ousted. McMaster on Monday removed the head of the State Accident Fund, calling for an investigation into whether she improperly steered a $600,000 government contract to her husband’s company. More. AP News
- Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Booster shot
Here’s a new cartoon by Robert Ariail that first was published in our sister newspaper, the Charleston City Paper. Love it? Hate it? What do you think: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Return to government dullness lessens national anxiety
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | The relative quiet on social media over the last month has been so loud that it’s still a shock.
Ever since Twitter cut off former President Donald Trump’s daily outlet of rage, there’s been a noticeable chilling of fractiousness in the country. Add to that a new president who is taking bold action on several long-ignored fronts and we find an America that is turning its back on constant confrontation and the politics of petty personalism.
The nation feels less electric and more stable. It’s as if someone finally pushed a button on a red-white-and-blue pressure valve to relieve pent-up anxiety, frustration, steam and worry. Instead of headlines bouncing from scandal to walls to swamps to personal attacks, governing is returning, warts and all, to elected officials who are trying, albeit imperfectly, to fix problems.
It kind of feels good to have adults in charge, doesn’t it? It’s refreshing to feel the return of the grind of government. Everything’s still not hunky dory with America’s political culture, but the crisp, refreshing scent of change to normalcy is in the air.
Regardless of your political party or whether you like or support Trump, you’ve got to admit that the country’s temperature has fallen. A month after the shock of a violent insurrectionist mob that tried to topple the U.S. Capitol, the country is harkening to being a more civil union of states in the heady days of Bush or Obama presidencies. Just look at the changes across society since Trump’s skulk away from Washington:
- News reporting, obsessed for more than four years by constant barrages of insults and pettiness emanating from the White House, is less brooding. Sure, there’s still conflict, but there’s been a return of civility and process over outrage and destruction.
- Anxiety among Americans fatigued by a coronavirus pandemic not taken seriously by the previous administration is ebbing as vaccinations are on the rise and there’s finally a real pathway toward full vaccination by the summer.
- Your social media feeds likely aren’t blowing up as much with negativity. Instead, they’ve become more of the community connectors they were intended to be.
None of this relatively swift flip means the undercurrents of our democracy are again strong. Things are still fragile, held together by Republicans and Democrats tenderly putting one foot in front of the other after four years of stalking, pounding and heavy marching.
In South Carolina, the Trump wing of the Republican Party continues to grip power. But something’s happening, there too.
First, there are fissures in the Trump wing as Gov. Henry McMaster is not-so-subtly being challenged on his leadership by Greenville businessman John Warren, who has set up a political action committee. Its first real political effort was to raise Cain about “liberal judges” in a return to the playbook of using political division and fear to garner support. Meanwhile, McMaster recently turned on his online political network to push a position to vaccinate seniors ahead of teachers in what seemed like obvious pandering to shore up part of his political base.
And second, not all Republicans are following the instructions of the GOP politburo in Columbia. You can see it in U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace’s comments after the Jan. 6 insurrection. You can see it in the vote to impeach Trump by U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, which garnered a censure by the state party. Both members of Congress are showing streaks of independence that put country over party
At the Statehouse, Republicans are moving with renewed vigor to pass long-sought abortion bans and to get legislation that would allow the open carry of handguns. At a time when the country is starting to chill, they’re pressing advantages at home as a sleepy public isn’t paying much attention.
“I dare say among S.C. Republicans, the fear of Democrats is greater than the fear of the mob that showed up at the Capitol on Jan. 6,” observed Furman University political scientist Danielle Vinson.
Perhaps what they’re really afraid of is that state Democrats might sometime get their mess together and become a real party of opposition as occurred in neighboring Georgia after 10 years of organizing, planning and working hard. We shall see.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report. His column also is published in the Charleston City Paper, Florence Morning News, Greenwood Index Journal, The (Seneca) Journal, Camden Chronicle Independent and Hartsville Messenger. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
Riley Institute at Furman University
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Statehouse Report to you at no cost. This week’s spotlighted underwriter is Furman University’s Riley Institute, which broadens student and community perspectives about issues critical
to South Carolina’s progress. It builds and engages present and future leaders, creates and shares data-supported information about the state’s core challenges, and links the leadership body to sustainable solutions.
Launched in 1999, the Institute is named for former South Carolina Governor and former United States Secretary of Education Richard W. (Dick) Riley. It is committed to nonpartisanship in all it does and to a rhetoric-free, facts-based approach to change.
- Learn more about the Riley Institute.
- Also learn more about the Riley Institute’s Center for Education Policy and Leadership.
Responding to recent column on Santee Cooper
To the editor:
A recent commentary references “wrong figures” on Santee Cooper. If the author had us in mind, we should note that a single figure in a single blog post about a single year of rates was transposed; one word in hundreds of pages we have published on Santee Cooper. Following journalistic best practice, we published a correction that still lives on our website.
But, the “who is lowest” contest misses the more important question: why are Santee Cooper’s residential rates even in the ballpark with for-profit utilities? Our dive into rates since 1990 shows that government-owned Santee Cooper’s residential rates were for a time far below Investor-Owned Utility (IOU) rates. But now they are virtually the same as those of for-profit utilities. Just this week, Santee Cooper’s largest wholesale customer reported that they pay higher wholesale rates to Santee Cooper than to any other electricity supplier in their network.
The reason for the rates? Debt. In our latest report, our economist questioned the ongoing ability of Santee Cooper to simultaneously invest in needed capital expenditures, freeze electric rates temporarily, and pay rebates required by the ratepayer lawsuit over its V.C. Summer debacle. A month later, Santee Cooper reported it had borrowed for capital expenditures.
Santee Cooper may very well be doing all it can to forestall a sale. Only a sale to a private buyer with the requirement that the buyer take on all debt and remove it from the rate base permanently can get Santee Cooper and Electric Co-op ratepayers out of the bind they are in.
— Oran P. Smith, senior fellow, Palmetto Promise Institute, Columbia
Editor’s Note: Thanks for the letter. But we continue to oppose the sale of Santee Cooper because we want the utility to answer to South Carolinians, not huge out-of-state conglomerates.
Send us your thoughts
We love hearing from our readers and encourage you to share your opinions. But to be published, you’ve got to provide us with contact information so we can verify your letters. Letters to the editor are published weekly. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity. Comments are limited to 250 words or less. Please include your name and contact information.
- Send your letters or comments to: feedback@statehousereport.com
Here’s another brick building
This building, located somewhere in South Carolina, also has been in the news of late. Where is it and why has it been in the news? Send your guess to feedback@statehousereport.com — and remember to include your name, home city and contact information.
Last week’s mystery, “Brick building,” showed a view of Bishop England High School on Daniel. It’s been in the news recently for being the focus of a $300 million lawsuit related to a voyeurism allegation.
Only a few readers correctly identified the building, including Kevin Mertens of Greenville; Jay Altman of Columbia; George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas; and Henry Eldridge of Tega Cay.
Graf reminded us that the school’s namesake had a newspaper career as well as a religious one: “John England was born in Cork, Ireland, on Sept. 23, 1786. He was ordained on Oct. 11, 1808, and quickly became a renowned lecturer. He organized schools for the poor, was appointed as president of St. Mary’s College, and served as Chaplain of the Presentation Convent, the MagdalenAsylum, and the city prison. He also had a parish in Brandon from May 1817 until August 1820, at which point he resigned because of being named Bishop of Charleston.
“Bishop England wanted to revive classical learning in his diocese and started ‘Book Societies’ throughout his congregations. He was a prolific writer as well and in 1822 started The United States Catholic Miscellany, the first Catholic newspaper in the country. The paper answered attacks made on the church and contained general catechetical information. England wrote, edited, and helped publish the paper. He died on April11, 1842.”
- Send us a mystery. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
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We Can Do Better, South Carolina!
Its about time that the low country mixes together on gun rights across the united states.
LETS GET TOGETHER WITH FOLKS LIKE THE VIRGINIA CITIZEN DEFENCE LEAGUE (VCDL)
and OpenCarry.org.