March 7, 2011:

OPEN LETTER TO HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE AND SPONSORS OF H.3292

GrassRoots has written an open letter to the members of the SC House Judiciary Committee, as well as the sponsors of H.3292.

H.3292, as amended by Rep. Thad Viers, is scheduled to come before the SC House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, March 8.

This bill still needs to be changed. In the open letter, GrassRoots explains why we cannot support H.3292 in its current form.

We still have time to act, but the time is NOW. Please, contact your representatives! Let them know that "GrassRoots GunRights speaks for me!" They need to KNOW that you are watching their actions, and not their rhetoric. They need to KNOW that you are unwilling to compromise your principles.

The actual Viers amendment itself is here.

Please note, this is the ACTUAL Viers amendment that is before the Judiciary Committee. It is not the "to be proposed" amendment that Viers has posted on the SC House web site.

March 6, 2011:
PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!

The Viers amendment to H.3292 is scheduled to come before the SC House Judiciary Committee this Tuesday, March 8.
Please read the action alert on why it still needs to be changed here, then contact your representatives! Let them know that "GrassRoots GunRights speaks for me!"
The Viers amendment itself is here.

February 26, 2011:
PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW!

On Thursday, February 24, the SC House General Laws subcommittee passed an amendment - the Viers amendment - to replace the original H. 3292. This amendment will help destroy the Second Amendment to the US Constitution by denying the right to keep and bear arms to people from out of state.
GrassRoots recorded the subcommittee meeting, and you can view a clip on our videos page here.
First, please read the Viers amendment here.
Then, read the GrassRoots analysis of the amended bill here.
Next, take action against this dangerous amendment by contacting the committee members as requested in the GrassRoots analysis.
Finally, help us spread the word by letting others know what is happening. We have the chance to stop this assault on our rights if we ACT NOW.
You can read the Action Alert on this issue here.

February 17, 2011:

The House Judiciary General Laws subcommittee met at 9am to hear public comment on H. 3292. GrassRoots GunRights leaders and members attended and spoke in support of the GrassRoots proposed amendments to H. 3292. Read the GrassRoots prepared statement here. The subcommittee voted to adjourn debate on H. 3292 to allow lawmakers more time to draft (with the help of GrassRoots and others) language for a single amendment to address all the the problems with H. 3292.

February 9, 2011:

PLEASE TAKE ACTION NOW! Today GrassRoots GunRights sent out an Action Alert on H. 3292 with instructions on what you can do to help fix and pass this very important gun bill. Please click here to read the Action Alert on H. 3292 and follow the Action Steps in the alert. Please do so NOW. If the politicians hear the from of thousands of gun owners, it will make a big impact.

February 7, 2011:

IMPORTANT: Please read the GrassRoots analysis of H. 3292. This bill may come before the House Judiciary General Laws subcommittee soon, and you need to know exactly what this bill will do, and what to do about it.

January 28, 2011:

YOU DID IT! Thanks to your efforts, H. 3405 was killed!

GrassRoots met early Thursday morning at the statehouse to organize the GrassRoots Gorillas prior to the subcommittee meeting on H. 3405. SC Campaign for Liberty and SC Libertarians also called for people to support GrassRoots in opposing H. 3405.

Spectators filled the subcommittee room to overflowing. Rep. Viers, chair of the subcommittee, commented a couple of times about how the pro gun folks had turned out in large numbers.

There were two other bills on the subcommittee agenda ahead of H. 3405. As discussion on each of these bills concluded and people left the room, more gun rights supporters waiting in the hallway flowed into the subcommittee room to support GrassRoots efforts to kill H. 3405.

Dr. Robert Butler, GrassRoots GunRights V.P and Legislative Director, was the first member of the public to speak on H. 3405. Dr. Butler spoke from the heart without notes, and the meeting was not recorded, so we can only report the gist of what he said.

Dr. Butler first thanked the subcommittee for the opportunity to speak. Then, he apologized for GrassRoots sending two letters to the subcommittee, but explained that the two letters were a result of the House failing to properly notify the public about the very existence of H. 3405. The House failed to list H. 3405 in the legislative index under the heading of "weapons" as it should have done. The first GrassRoots letter asked the subcommittee to kill H. 3405 since it was too broken to fix. The second GrassRoots letter replaces the first letter and instead asks the subcommittee to amend H. 3405 - with an amendment that GrassRoots already drafted - so as to provide all concealed weapon permit (CWP) holders with the same privileges that politicians were asking to get for themselves.

Since Rep. Viers was impressed with the pro gun turnout, Dr. Butler told the subcommittee that if GrassRoots had been given more notice about H. 3405 there would have been even more pro gun people in attendance.

Dr. Butler informed the subcommittee that a few years earlier the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had reviewed the research done on the effectiveness of gun control laws. The CDC found no valid evidence that all of the gun control laws combined had saved any lives.

How could that be, he asked rhetorically. Dr. Butler then answered his own question.

In order to believe that gun control laws could save lives, one would have to believe that people could not be trusted to do the right thing, but still believe that these very same untrustworthy people could be trusted to obey the gun control laws.

In order to believe that gun control laws could save lives, one would have to believe that evil people willing to violate God's laws against murder, rape, and robbery would not be willing to violate man's law against using a gun to violate God's law.

Dr. Butler stated that fighting crime by passing gun control laws would be like fighting alcoholism by passing laws to prohibit liquor sales to Mormons.

Dr. Butler stated that evil is something within a person, not a gun, and that the good people who possess a CWP should be allowed to carry wherever they feel a need to do so. Public safety would be improved by deleting the CWP prohibited carry locations from the law for all CWP holders, not just politicians.

Dr. Butler then asked the subcommittee to either amend H. 3405 with the GrassRoots proposed amendment to extend the special privileges sought by lawmakers to all CWP holders, or to, in the alternative, kill H. 3405.

Every person who signed up to speak before the subcommittee about H. 3405 was against the bill. Every lawmaker who spoke on H. 3405 (except Rep. Vick, the bill's sponsor) opposed H. 3405.

Rep. Vick showed up late to the subcommittee meeting. So, instead of speaking in favor of his bill prior to opening the debate to the public, Rep. Vick spoke in favor of his bill after the first few members of the public spoke against the bill.

Rep. Vick stated that his intention was never to give special privileges to politicians. Rep. Vick stated that his only concern was increasing public safety, especially after what recently happened in AZ. Rep. Vick should have read his own bill because his bill simply added politicians to the list of CWP holders who could carry anywhere in SC.

It is interesting to note that Rep. Vick never once during the subcommittee meeting stated he would support extending the special privileges he was seeking for himself to all CWP holders by supporting the GrassRoots proposed amendment to H. 3405. Rep. Vick only sought special privileges for politicians, never once trying to extend his request to enable all CWP holders to do as he wanted to be able to do.

After Rep. Vick spoke and tried to justify special privileges for politicians due to the recent AZ shootings, GrassRoots Executive Officer Bill Rentiers added his name to the list of speakers in order to refute such nonsense. Mr. Rentiers pointed out that the six people killed during the Tucson shooting were not politicians, they were citizens just like you and me. Mr. Rentiers then recounted an incident where his daughter, who is a CWP holder, was robbed, but was unarmed due to employer policy. Mr. Rentiers stressed that no special privileges should be given to public officials that every other law-abiding citizen could not have.

All members of the subcommittee agreed they could not support H. 3405 as written and voted unanimously to kill the bill. The subcommittee said it intends to pass future legislation extending gun rights, but H. 3405 was just too broken to fix.

This victory belongs to YOU! You stopped a politician's attempt to get special privileges for himself and his colleagues while leaving out everyone else. GrassRoots GunRights monitors the legislation politicians try to sneak through, and we keep you informed. It is YOU, the members of GrassRoots and our supporters, who mobilized, made the calls, sent the emails, and showed up at the hearings that deserve the credit for killing H. 3405.

GrassRoots GunRights thanks you for all your hard work in defeating this horrible bill.

January 26, 2011:
UPDATE:After examining H. 3405 further, GrassRoots will deliver this letter to the Subcommittee prior to their meeting tomorrow morning. In this letter GrassRoots suggests changes to H. 3405 which will allow ALL CWP holders to carry anywhere in the state.

January 26, 2011:
GrassRoots delivered this letter regarding H. 3405 to each member of the House General Laws Subcommittee asking them to KILL H. 3405.

January 25, 2011:
GrassRoots sent out an Action Alert asking everyone to contact members of the SC House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee and tell them to kill H. 3405. Read the Action Alert here. The House General Laws Subcommittee is scheduled to meet at 9:00am on Thursday January 27, 2011 to discuss H. 3405.

September 22, 2010:
GrassRoots GunRights forwarded an Action Alert from Gun Owners of America concerning a vote on the DISCLOSE ACT set for tomorrow, Thursday 23 September, 2010. Click here to read the Action Alert and take immediate action to tell your Senators to OPPOSE the DISCLOSE ACT!

July 9, 2010:

"Easy Path" Walks A Rough Path

SLED recently revised the process for renewing a CWP in a way that would make it less convenient than it had been, and more expensive than permitted by law. Since SLED is under the control of the Governor, GrassRoots asked its members, and especially its CWP Instructor members, to contact Governor Sanford's office and complain. Large numbers of you did, and many also called their elected representatives. Meanwhile, both GrassRoots V.P. & Legislative Director Rob Butler and GrassRoots Executive Officer Bill Rentiers were in contact with the Governor's office explaining the legal and practical reasons for our complaints.

GrassRoots is pleased to report that SLED has rescinded the changes. We first told you this would happen in our July 7 e-mail "Message from the Governor's office". Its now official. SLED has posted the following announcement on its web site at http://www.sled.sc.gov/cwp.aspx?MenuID=CWP:

NOTICE

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) will not be implementing the Digitized Fingerprinting Concealed Weapon Permit (CWP) program as was previously announced. SLED personnel will continue to seek efficiency measures Division-wide, including the CWP program. SLED appreciates the patience demonstrated by each CWP applicant as SLED Regulatory personnel attempt to address CWP application turnaround times during these challenging economic times.

GrassRoots thanks Governor Sanford and his staff for hearing our concerns and helping rescind the changes. We also thank our members who called the Governor and their elected representatives. The events of the past few days demonstrate how, when we work together, we can bring about good results for gun owners, CWP holders, and GrassRoots members.

May 5, 2010:
GrassRoots leadership attended a Senate Subcommittee hearing where H. 3585 was on the agenda, but H. 3585 was carried over until a future meeting.

May 4, 2010:
GrassRoots leadership attended a House Judiciary Committee hearing where H. 3298 was discussed. Rep. Rutherford proposed an amendment to also allow CWP holders to store a firearm under the seat of a vehicle.

May 3, 2010:
GrassRoots sent out an Action Alert asking gun owners to contact each member of the Senate Subcommittee where H. 3585 sits and tell them "I strongly urge you to kill H. 3585! GrassRoots GunRights speaks for me." Please click here to read the GrassRoots Action Alert on H. 3585.

April 22, 2010:
GrassRoots leadership attended the Senate Subcommittee on H. 3585. GrassRoots delivered a copy of this letter to each member of the Subcommittee. The Chairman of the Subcommittee (Sen. Knotts) halted the meeting after 15 minutes and announced the meeting would reconvene at 11:00am in the Senate conference room adjoining the Senate gallery. The hearing did not reconvene at 11:00am, but was rescheduled until immediately after adjournment of the Senate. The hearing was later canceled entirely.

GrassRoots leadership also attended the House General Laws Subcommittee on H. 3659.

April 15, 2010:
GrassRoots attended the House Criminal Laws Subcommittee where H. 3659 (a bill which would turn many law-abiding citizens into felons and define certain firearms as "assault weapons") was on the agenda. H. 3659 bill did not get discussed before the meeting ended. GrassRoots delivered a copy of this letter to each member of the Subcommittee.

April 14, 2010:
The House General Laws Subcommittee met today and passed H. 3298 (a bill to allow a gun to be stored under the seat of a car) with the GrassRoots proposed language adopted at the Subcommittee's March 2009 meeting.

The Senate Fish, Game and Forestry Subcommittee met to discuss S. 1271 (a bill to allow a person to use a firearm to kill an animal out of season if in self defense or defense of others). GrassRoots suggested Subsection C of S. 1271 be deleted entirely. The Subcommittee voted to strike Subsection A(3), Subsection B and Subsection C entirely. Read S. 1271 here

March 18, 2010:
GrassRoots delivered this letter to each member of the House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee and to the cosponsors of H. 3994 (a bill to allow possession of firearms in private vehicles in places set aside for private vehicles). The letter rebutts the Chamber of Commerce position on H. 3994 and shows why the Chamber of Commerce should support H. 3994.

Please click here to read the GrassRoots Action Alert on H. 3994 and follow the instructions to contact lawmakers.

March 2, 2010:
Certain SC politicians want to pass a law (H. 4112) to allow THEM (but not you) to carry a self-defense firearm anywhere in the state if they possess a CWP.

March 3, 2010
UPDATE: H. 4112 was on the House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee agenda today. GrassRoots delivered this letter to each member of the House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee. GrassRoots spoke against the provision in H. 4112 which would enable politicians in the SC General Assembly who possess a CWP to carry anywhere in the state.

The Subcommittee voted to adjourn debate on H. 4112, but this bill is still in play. If you have not yet contacted the members of the General Laws Subcommittee to express your opposition to the special privileges for politicians in H. 4112, please do so now. Click HERE to read the GrassRoots Action Alert about H. 4112 and learn what immediate action you need to take.

February 16, 2010
GrassRoots emailed this letter to each member of the House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee and to the sponsor of H. 3994 (a bill to allow possession of firearms in private vehicles in places set aside for private vehicles). The letter explains problems with H. 3994 and asks the House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee to amend the bill to protect gun owners.

February 24, 2010
UPDATE: The House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee met, but failed to amend the bill as needed to protect gun owners. After expressing concerns that certain members of the Chamber of Commerce wished to speak about H. 3994 but were not present at the time, the Subcomittee voted to adjourn debate on H. 3994 until the next meeting.

February 2, 2010
GrassRoots delivered this letter to each member of the House Judiciary Committee and to each cosponsor of H. 3652. This letter explains the serious problems with H. 3652 and asks the House Judiciary Committee to either recomit H. 3652 to subcommittee for further study, or kill the bill entirely.

Another GrassRoots GunRights victory!

GrassRoots Gorillas attended the Judiciary Committee hearing to impress upon legislators how important H. 3652 was to gun owners. Thanks to GrassRoots GunRights, the bill was sent back to the House General Laws Subcommittee for further study - which is usually how the Judiciary Committee quietly kills a bill. H. 3652 should now die in subcommittee.

As currently drafted, H. 4022 could cause innocent South Carolina gun owners to lose the right to keep and bear arms!

January 24, 2010
If passed as written, South Carolina gun owners who rely on H. 4022 and abide by South Carolina law will still be considered to be in violation of federal law. This means the federal government will still prosecute South Carolina gun owners who abide by South Carolina law. H. 4022 must be amended to better protect gun owners in South Carolina.

GrassRoots GunRights has proposed language to fix the problems with H. 4022. GrassRoots delivered this letter to the sponsor of H. 4022 and to each Senator on the Judiciary Subcommittee reviewing H. 4022. Please read the letter to understand the problems with H. 4022 and the GrassRoots proposed solution.

Click HERE to read the GrassRoots Action Alert about H. 4022.

January 28, 2010
UPDATE: Thanks to GrassRoots GunRights, H. 4022 was tabled for further study. GrassRoots GunRights will be watching in case H. 4022 begins to move again.

What would you do...?

      Imagine you're standing outside your locked apartment building on the welcome mat under the awning. Suddenly two drunken men about 20 yards away decide they are going to beat you up. They charge you while yelling vulgar threats of how they are going to "beat your ass."
     At first, you can't believe this is really happening. Then, you realize it is indeed happening. Unfortunately, those couple of moments of disbelief have allowed the two drunks to close the distance. Now, they are only 10 yards away from you, still charging, and still cursing and threatening you.
     You are a disabled Army veteran. You served in Korea, Mogadishu in Somalia, and Egypt in Desert Storm. But, nothing has prepared you for something like this. Your 30% Army service disability is due to nerve damage in your right leg, which causes foot drop. So, you can't outrun these two aggressive drunks, and you can't hope to win a fight against two healthy young men either. But, even though you have done nothing to provoke them, they aren't giving you a choice on whether there is going to be a fight or not.

These two mean drunks are the ones initiating and forcing a violent encounter. They are predators, and you are now their prey.

You are more afraid now than you have ever been in your entire life. You know these mean drunks are going to cause you serious bodily injury or death because they are still charging and still yelling vulgar threats of how they are going to "beat your ass." You realize you are in a real life nightmare.

Click Here to read the rest of the story.

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OPEN LETTER TO HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE AND SPONSORS OF H.3292

"Easy Path" Walks A Rough Path

Another GrassRoots GunRights victory!

As currently drafted, H. 4022 could cause innocent South Carolina gun owners to lose the right to keep and bear arms!

What would you do...?

Click Here to read the Jason Dickey Appeal Brief.