After 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as transgender, murdered three children aged nine and three adults at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee, Horry County residents are asking state legislators about laws that can keep schools from being soft targets.
Sources now confirm, Hale had an Anti-Christian manifesto and a set of detailed maps of the school. She entered the building by shooting through a door before shooting six.
Reports also show Hale chose the school, which she once attended, because it was a softer target than others. Teachers, on site, were not carrying guns and there were no armed guards on the premises. By the time police respond to these shootings, many are already dead.
Despite pushback, including Twitter removing social media posts promoting the event, it appears the “Trans Day of Vengeance” event is still slated for Saturday, April 1st. in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
As these mass shootings become more common, questions are asked if it is not time to pass the concealed carry measure being considered by the S.C. Senate.
ACTIVISTS ON THE LEFT SHOUT
As activists on the left shout for a Federal Gun grab, we spoke with Tommy Dimsdale of Palmetto Gun Rights about the current legislation.
“Constitutional Carry does nothing but make the current permitting system optional and allows anyone who can currently legally possess a firearm to legally carry that firearm without jumping through a months long process of bureaucratic hoops. This also prevents law abiding gun owners from being fined and thrown in jail for not getting government permission to exercise a God-given right. This pro-gun legislation that has been passed in 25 other states does nothing to alter South Carolina law on who can and cannot possess a firearm. Anyone convicted of crimes that forfeit their rights to firearm ownership cannot somehow magically carry a firearm after the enacting of any true Constitutional Carry bill. Any rhetoric to the contrary is simply a disinformation campaign from those who would rather bow to the gun control mob in Columbia, instead of standing up for gun owners in their districts,” Tommy Dimsdale, Palmetto Gun Rights.
Senator Greg Hembree
With the loud left and the right at odds, Senators are now weighing the merits of Conceal Carry. We spoke with S.C. Senator Greg Hembree about the legislation. Below are his comments.
The second amendment is part of our American heritage, and I support the fundamental right of every law-abiding citizen to keep and bear arms. But in protecting that right we must not allow convicted criminals to possess firearms without legal consequences.
As a State Senator one of my most important responsibilities is to protect the citizens I serve. I take this essential role of government seriously.
The answer to gun violence in America is the aggressive prosecution of the dangerous people that unlawfully possess firearms. Guns are inanimate objects and cannot kill people; dangerous criminals commit gun violence and do kill people. These are lessons I learned as a criminal prosecutor for 25 years.
In 2021 during the debate on the open carry of firearms bill, which I supported, an amendment was offered that would have prevented prosecutions for the offense currently used to punish criminals for unlawful possession of firearms. If the amendment had passed, criminals convicted of drug dealing, CSC (rape) 3rd degree, assault and battery 1st degree, harassment, stalking, resisting arrest with assault, incest, indecent exposure, strong armed robbery, and a long list of additional serious criminal offenses, would have been permitted to lawfully possess and carry firearms under South Carolina law. I, along with others, successfully fought to keep guns out of the hands of convicted criminals by opposing this amendment. And I will do it again.
The 2023 Senate version (S-109) of the “Constitutional Carry” act is patterned after the 2021 amendment and once again, it prevents prosecution for unlawful possession of firearms. Once again, it would permit thousands of convicted criminals to possess and carry firearms under South Carolina law with no legal consequences. And once again, I will fight to keep guns out of the hands of convicted criminals, while protecting the Second Amendment.
There are other pending bills (H-3594) that take a more reasoned approach to protecting gun rights and I look forward to debating and hopefully supporting that bill, but the effect of Senate bill 109 is anti-public safety and anti-law abiding gun owner.
Greg Hembree, Senator
Horry and Dillon Counties