South Carolina Senator Larry Martin is a Republican, but he actually has some decent ideas about gun control. He has actually tried to pass some common sense gun control measures in his state.
As Martin himself says:
“I’m not one of those types who believe that any common sense approach to solving a problem is always trumped by the Second Amendment.”
Now there were some bills proposed that would have extended waiting periods and banned assault weapons. Martin did not want to have a hearing because every gun control hearing seems to get taken over by right-wing nutjobs. These are the ones that are even farther right than the National Rifle Association (NRA).
South Carolina enacted a permit requirement for conceal-carry over 20-years ago, but now some other states are passing permitless carry. Senator Martin believes that these laws are dangerous. People should be required to go to gun safety training before they can carry one out in the open.
They also have a law to keep mentally ill people from buying guns. The pro-gun nuts said that this is overreaching gun control. Martin believes that someone that just got out of the mental hospital should not be allowed a gun.
I’m glad that there is at least one sane Republican lawmaker out there. This state obviously needs gun control.
For instance, a man in South Carolina was arrested for having over 10,000 guns. That should not have ever happened. It needs to be more difficult for people to purchase and carry deadly weapons.
This is also the state where Dylan Roof shot nine people in a church. Ted Cruz even made jokes about it after it happened.
These people need to realize that no one is coming for their guns. We just need background checks and identification on purchases of weapons. Hopefully, some more Republicans will come to their senses soon, but it doesn’t seem likely.
Featured image via Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
