Legislature should examine potential risks
The tragic gun-related events of the past year have led many states to reconsider their gun laws, including South Carolina. A bill currently on the Senate floor will allow guns to be carried without a concealed weapons permit — allowing almost anyone to be able to carry a gun.
The reason support is growing for the bill is the same reason the bill exists. People feel as though they are in constant danger in public and that they are their own first line of defense. But under this bill, if people even felt threatened, they could draw their weapons instead of calling 911. And then, when either party is left injured or dead, the police will be forced to decipher what happened with whomever is left alive to give an account.
As quoted in an article published by IndependentMail. com, an Anderson, S.C., news site, Jarrod Bruder, the executive director of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Officers’ Association, believes allowing this bill to pass would “muddy the waters” and make it more difficult for police officers to do the very job they are tasked with.
To reduce regulation on something as dangerous as a handgun would not only be like playing Russian roulette with the entire state’s welfare, it would also show a serious regression in our state’s legislature. It would increase distrust and unrest among citizens and ruin the progress that has been accomplished through concealed weapons training programs. The possible safety for those choosing to carry weapons is too far outweighed by the dangers of this bill that could ultimately tip the scales of justice.