Friday, April 1, 2011

South Carolina Gun Laws


from Think Progress
A proposed law making its way through the South Carolina legislature would loosen gun ownership to an astonishing level. If passed, legal gun owners could bring their weapons to restaurants, day-care centers, and churches. The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Thad Viers (R), says that expanding the places that one can carry a concealed weapon in the state is an effective anti-crime measure:
It puts criminals on the defense,” said state Rep. Thad Viers, R-Horry, a co-sponsor of the bill and the owner of about 25 firearms and a concealed weapons permit. “Criminals don’t know if you’re carrying or not.”
Amazingly, the only debate in the legislature appears to be whether the bill goes far enough.
What's your opinion? Is it any wonder "South Carolina has the ninth-highest rate of firearm murders by state."
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

5 comments:

  1. Guns are tools. People kill people. If you try to control guns due to violence, then you might as well outlaw steak knives, hammers, axes, ball bats, rocks, sticks, etc... Gun control is not the answer, people control(self control) is what is needed. Have a nice day.

    SFC, US Army - Retired

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  2. Charles, welcome to MikeB's blog.

    You are correct, guns are tools, a specific kind of tool - a weapon.

    All of the other items you mention are also tools, but tools which are not primarily designed to be weapons.

    You are correct about the importance of people control.
    However, given that there is markedly less gun violence in those jurisdictions that permit less access to firearms, to suggest that reduced weapons access is not the answer would seem to be a failed argument.

    While clearly it is not a perfect answer - there is still some minimal gun violence - it does produce marked improvement, and therefore, while not perfect, gun restriction does seem to be an effective means of reducing firearm violence.

    There are a number of sources, many of them have been quoted on this blog - I've provided more than a few - which illustrate this.

    Here's an easy one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

    but I suggest you peruse the results of a google or other search engine survey of the results of "gun violence by nation"
    and look for yourself.

    Then do a comparison by states in the U.S. There ARE multiple factors which contribute to violence, including gun violence.

    Gun availability IS one of them.

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  3. Charles, That's one of the weakest arguments around. You're only repeating what you've heard others say because it supports your biased opinion. You like guns, fine. But don't go twisting things around to justify it. You like guns, that's enough.

    If you're so patriotic as to sign your comments with your retired military status, you should think about what you're saying.

    Proper gun control, which we DO NOT have, would inconvenience you minimally and keep guns out of the hands of many criminals. What in the hell is wrong with that?

    I can hear you right now retreating back to your original point. The criminals will just use knives or bats, right.

    Well, some will and some won't. Right there we're ahead of the game. Of the ones who do, they'll cause less damage and kill fewer people. It's a big winner.

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  4. Bearing arms is a right and not a privilge. However, I think that the state should continue to require the testing/exam so that people who carry are informed and have some experience and knowledge. Then not limit the places where they can carry such as certain restaurants. Defense is needed walking between a restaurant and car. CWP holders should be able to have a gun anywhere in a car rather than concealed on their person or glove box, etc.

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  5. R Babb, Those are the things we keep hearing, that's for sure. But, I'm afraid the reality is quite different. Guns do more harm than good. Before you use your gun to save the day, you'll have a negligent discharge, it'll be stolen and used to kill someone, one of your kids wil get ahold of it, or any number of other things. It's a bad deal for you and everybody else.

    Thanks for coming by, though. Hope to hear more from ya.

    ReplyDelete