Category: A Victory!

On February 22, 2023, the South Carolina House passed a Constitutional Carry bill with 75% of the votes, 90 to 30.  Constitutional or “permitless” Carry is when a state does not require a permit to carry loaded handguns, openly or concealed, for most adults in most public places, a close approximation of the state of the law when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791. From abcnews.com (AP):

The Republican-controlled South Carolina House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to allow lawful firearm owners to carry handguns openly or concealed without a state permit.

The 90-30 vote brings the conservative state one step closer to joining 25 others with some form of so-called “constitutional carry” laws. The fate of the state’s latest effort to loosen gun restrictions once more falls to the Senate, where lawmakers rejected a similar proposal two years
ago.

The South Carolina bill for Constitutional (permitless) Carry is  H 3594. The ALL CAPS format is how the bill is formatted at the South Carolina legislature site.  From H 3594:

A BILL TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ENACTING THE “SOUTH CAROLINA CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY/SECOND AMENDMENT PRESERVATION ACT OF 2023” BY AMENDING SECTION 10-11-320, RELATING TO CARRYING OR DISCHARGING FIREARMS AND EXCEPTIONS FOR CONCEALABLE WEAPONS PERMIT HOLDERS, SO AS TO DELETE A PROVISION THAT MAKES THIS SECTION INAPPLICABLE TO PERSONS THAT POSSESS CONCEALABLE WEAPONS PERMITS AND TO PROVIDE THIS SECTION DOES NOT APPLY TO PERSONS WHO POSSESS FIREARMS; BY AMENDING SECTION 16-23-20, RELATING TO UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUNS, SO AS TO REVISE THE PLACES WHERE AND CIRCUMSTANCES UPON WHICH HANDGUNS MAY BE CARRIED, AND PERSONS WHO MAY CARRY HANDGUNS; BY AMENDING SECTION 16-23-50, RELATING TO CERTAIN PENALTIES, DISPOSITION OF FINES, AND FORFEITURE AND DISPOSITION OF HANDGUNS, SO AS TO PROVIDE EXCEPTIONS TO THE UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUNS;

The South Carolina legislature has attempted to pass a Constitutional Carry bill for years.

In 2021, the House passed Constitutional Carry, but the Senate, even with a large majority of Republicans, did not pass the bill.  It seems likely a Senator in a leadership position killed the bill. However, the Senate passed, and the governor signed into law, a licensed open carry bill. This is incremental progress. There are only four states which ban open carry, even for those with gun permits (California, New York, Illinois, and Florida).

With half of the states in the union now having a form of “permitless” or Constitutional Carry as the de facto standard of their law, it becomes more and more difficult for Republicans to find reasons to vote against Constitutional Carry. No ill effects have been shown to result from Constitutional Carry.

This year, Governor Ron De Santis is promoting Constitutional Carry in Florida, although it may become only a permitless carry law for concealed carry.

Nebraska is on the brink and may pass a Constitutional Carry law for that state.

North Carolina may have the votes to pass a Constitutional Carry law over the veto of a Democrat governor. It appears four states are in contention to become the 26th state where no permit is required to exercise the rights protected by the Second Amendment in most public spaces.

Every state which joins the  Constitutional Carry club shows respect for the Second Amendment continues to grow in the United States. According to a poll in 2008, 73% of Americans believed the Second Amendment protects individual rights.  In June of 2022, a poll sowed 83% believed the Second Amendment was adopted to protect self, family and property, and to protect against tyranny.

The legislatures and courts reflect the common understanding of the Second Amendment when it was ratified and as people understand it today.

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About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

This week, a federal judge struck down Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act (SAPA). SAPA is a sanctuary law created to protect Missourians’ right to keep and bear arms from federal gun grabbers.

Ratified in 2021, SAPA prohibits state officials from enforcing federal firearms laws, and outlaws any taxes and fees imposed on guns, ammunition, or firearm accessories “not common to all other goods and services and that might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items.”

 

Gun registration, tracking, and confiscation schemes also fall under this prohibited category, as GunsAmerica previously reported.

U.S. District Judge Brian Wimes ruled on Tuesday that SAPA does not pass constitutional muster, citing the supremacy clause.

“At best, this statute causes confusion among state law enforcement officials who are deputized for federal task force operations, and at worst, is unconstitutional on its face,” Wimes wrote.

Government officials and agencies faced stiff penalties for violating SAPA, including fines of up to $50,000 per infraction.

Judge Wimes indicated that this had a chilling effect on interagency cooperation between federal, state, and local governments.

“State and local law enforcement officials in Missouri may lawfully participate in joint federal task forces, assist in the investigation and enforcement of federal firearm crimes, and fully share information with the Federal Government without fear of H.B. 85’s penalties,” wrote Wimes.

Supporters of the bill have defended it in the face of such scrutiny.

“Look, I don’t think anyone wanted to hamper or should be hampering law enforcement from working together with federal agencies or state agencies,” said Gov. Mike Parson in an Oct. 2021 interview with KCTV5 News.

“That’s not the goal of it.  The goal of it is to take bad guys off the street and still respect the rights of the private citizen on the Second Amendment,” he added.

In the wake of the ruling, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced that he plans to file an appeal.

 

“As Attorney General, I will protect the Constitution, which includes defending Missourians’ fundamental right to bear arms,” Bailey said. “We are prepared to defend this statute to the highest court, and we anticipate a better result at the Eighth Circuit.”

Stay tuned for updates.

Young adults who live in Texas are now eligible to obtain concealed carry licenses that will allow them to bear arms in certain businesses and at public universities.

In January, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) stopped enforcing a law barring 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds from carrying handguns.

The change was prompted by a federal district court case that struck down the law as unconstitutional.
The legal battle over the law began in November 2021 when the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), a pro-gun organization, filed suit, following the passage of constitutional carry in Texas.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of two plaintiffs who were adults under the age of 21 and, therefore, were prohibited from bearing arms under Texas Penal Code 46.02.

U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman issued his ruling in the case, finding that the age limits in the statute were in violation of the 2nd Amendment.

“[The statute] prohibits law-abiding 18-to-20-year-olds from carrying handguns for self-defense outside the home based solely on their age, this statutory scheme violates the Second Amendment, as incorporated against the States via the Fourteenth Amendment,” Pittman wrote in his decision.

“We applaud Texas for doing the right thing and accepting the district court’s ruling against its law prohibiting 18-to-20-year-old adults from carrying firearms in public,” said FPC attorney Cody J. Wisniewski in a statement on the FBC website.

“Not only do young adults have the same constitutionally protected right to bear arms as all other adults, they are also among the reasons we have a Second Amendment, Constitution, and Country in the first place,” he added.

Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw initially filed a notice of appeal following the late August decision. However, the agency withdrew its appeal without explanation last December.

A DPS memo sent out in January cited the case, and advised officers that they may no longer enforce the law, adding, “This directive has immediate and permanent effect unless countermanded by the Office of General Counsel through your chain of command.”

Following the DPS memo, the agency’s handgun licensing website now states, “A federal district court has ruled the Department can no longer apply the License to Carry statutory eligibility criteria that prohibit otherwise eligible 18-to-20 year-olds from obtaining the license. Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc. et. al., v. Steven McCraw, et. al., No. 4:21-cv-1245-P. The Department will therefore no longer deny applications solely on the basis that the applicants are 18-to-20 years old.”

Indeed, DPS has already begun issuing handgun licenses to the formerly-affected population, and gun rights proponents believe it is just the beginning.

According to the Dallas Morning News, since the decision to abandon the appeal, and the issuance of the memo, the department said it has received more than 100 applications from newly eligible adults and issued 17 licenses as of the end of February.

“As more people find out, there’s going to be an influx,” said Michael Cargill, who owns a gun store in Austin. Earlier this month, he said two 19-year-old college students sat before him in his handgun licensing class, pens in hand, ready to get their licenses to carry.

Cargill is noted as being the primary plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Department of Justice that saw the federal bump stock ban get overturned.

As gun control laws are scaled back in the post-Bruen legal landscape, additional lawsuits brought by the FPC in a wide swathe of jurisdictions that prohibit adults under 21 from bearing arms are sure to follow Andrew v McCraw’s victory in the 5th Circuit.

Of course, as litigation advances in such cases as Lara v. Evanchick (vs. Pennsylvania, in the 3rd Circuit), Reese v. ATF (vs. the federal government, in the 5th Circuit), Beeler v. Long (vs. Tennessee, in the 6th Circuit), Meyer v. Raoul (vs. Illinois, in the 7th Circuit), Worth v. Harrington (vs. Minnesota, in the 8th Circuit), Jones v. Bonta (vs. California, in the 9th Circuit), and Baughcum v. Jackson (vs. Georgia, in the 11th Circuit), stay tuned for updates!