CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – As President Joe Biden calls for stricter gun control laws Across the country, South Carolinians shouldn’t expect the same from their leader.
Republican Gov. Henry McMaster said he believes some of the president’s proposals could infringe on Second Amendment rights.
Among the measures Biden proposed in his address to the nation last Thursday were banning assault rifles or raising the age at which people can buy them, along with expanding background checks and immigration laws. Red flag.
“Everyone in the country has the right, unless otherwise adjudicated, to have a firearm or numerous firearms, and I think some of the things the president is suggesting do or could intrude in that area. of the Second Amendment,” McMaster said. reporters Friday during a visit to North Charleston.
But the governor reiterated his previously guaranteed support for tougher penalties for people caught carrying weapons illegally.
He supports a proposal by State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D – Richland, which would increase the minimum fines and prison time for people caught carrying weapons illegally and make that crime a felony. Harpootlian’s proposal also requires bail to be set by a circuit court judge rather than a magistrate and would not allow attorneys to reduce the charge if someone was carrying illegally.
Both McMaster and Harpootlian are former prosecutors.
“Those are good ideas,” the governor said. “This is very serious. We have to be very serious about it.”
Biden’s address to the country came in the wake of an influx of deadly gun violence incidents in recent weeks across the country, including in South Carolina.
Last month, an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.
When asked specifically about school safety, McMaster pointed to the money the South Carolina General Assembly appropriated in recent years to put an armed and trained school resource officer on every campus.
While the presence of these officers has increased significantly in recent years, about 300 of South Carolina’s more than 1,200 schools still do not have an SRO, according to the governor.
“We have the money to do it, but it’s hard to find the officers who will take those jobs, just like it’s hard to find people who will take many other jobs,” he said.
McMaster said the state is also working to increase access to mental health resources in schools.
A recent audit by the South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, at the request of the Governor, found that these services are available in fewer than half of the state’s public schools.
“We’re always looking, and we’re looking at what they’re doing in other states, talking to others across the country to see what works and what would work better, if anything, in our state,” McMaster said of school safety. measures as a whole.
The General Assembly closed its 2022 regular legislative session last month, so state lawmakers are out of the State House for most of the rest of this year.
Asked if he felt gun violence and school safety were issues he’d like lawmakers to address when they return to Columbia later this month to finalize the state budget or in a possible special session later this year, McMaster He responded that he wants South Carolinians to know that if they see something that could lead to gun violence to say something.
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