COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster says his office is reviewing policies and ideas that could help curb gun violence in the wake of multiple mass shootings that includes last week’s Texas school shooting that left 19 children and two adults dead.
But he stopped short Wednesday of detailing specifically what policies his office is looking at and whether he’d back more restrictive gun measures as some Democratic lawmakers have called on him to do.
“We’re studying and getting ideas from other states to see what, if anything, we can and should do, (and) what would be good for South Carolina and make it safer,” McMaster told reporters after an event hosted by the Lexington Chamber and Visitors Center.
McMaster has backed loosening gun restrictions in South Carolina, as recently as last year when he signed legislation into law that allows certified and trained gun owners to carry openly in public. He also has expressed support for legislation that strengthens punishments for people who illegally possess guns.
On Wednesday, McMaster also highlighted past legislative efforts to put more school resource officers and mental health counselors in each school, though the state has found it difficult to fill those positions because of low pay. McMaster added that there’s more interest in addressing gun violence in the state after the Texas school shooting where an 18-year-old gunman shot and killed 19 students and two teachers with a semi-automatic-style rifle he legally bought.
From Texas to the racist Buffalo shooting days before at a grocery store where 10 people died and to South Carolina, where 10 people were shot over Memorial Day weekend in Charleston — weeks after two separate mass shootings at Columbiana Mall and at a Hampton nightclub — communities across the U.S. are grappling with gun violence.
“The question is what is the best thing to do that would work that would not violate the Second Amendment, because that Second Amendment is real clear and you have a constitutional right (that) the government cannot take it from you,” McMaster said.
McMaster’s comments come as federal lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are discussing in Washington whether to offer states with so-called red flag laws on the books federal money.
Red flag laws allow law enforcement, with a court order and at the request of a family member or police officer, to take away weapons if someone is believed to be a threat.
The governor said Wednesday he does not support red flag laws because South Carolina already makes it illegal for anyone who is determined to be mentally incompetent or who is in a mental health facility to possess a firearm. A police officer or a prosecutor also can ask a circuit court judge to take away weapons from people with domestic violence or violent felony convictions.
“I think that’s a dangerous thing,” McMaster said about taking weapons from people deemed a threat. “I’m not sure if law enforcement would be in favor of that, going into somebody’s home. You also have Second Amendment repercussions as well. But we’re trying to see where the gaps are, what else we can do.”
A push for stronger gun laws
Some South Carolina Democrats want McMaster to do more.
This week, Democrats pushed for the governor to address gun safety measures, including one from gubernatorial candidate Joe Cunningham to raise the age to buy a rifle from 18 to 21, and a call from state Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston to strengthen background checks.
State Reps. Wendell Gilliard, D-Charleston, and Patricia Henegan, D-Malboro, asked for a meeting with McMaster this month when lawmakers return to Columbia to address gun violence in the state.
“It is time to act and do what we are called to by our constituents to make every effort to protect South Carolinians and visitors to our state,” Gilliard and Henegan wrote to McMaster on May 25. “We must all work together in unity and put aside political differences for the good of the state.”
McMaster, a former U.S. attorney and attorney general, has publicly backed one proposal pushed by a Democrat.
Though the legislative effort was unsuccessful this year, McMaster expressed support again Wednesday for a proposal pushed by former solicitor and state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Richland, that would deny bond for illegal gun possession and create mandatory minimum sentences for illegal gun possession. McMaster said he also wants bond hearings for those cases to be in circuit courts, not in front of magistrate judges. He’s also supportive of making the illegal possession of guns a felony instead of a misdemeanor under state law.
Harpootlian’s push came after the Easter weekend shooting at Columbiana Mall that left 10 people injured, and the shooting at a Hampton night club where nine people were shot.
“We have to treat these cases seriously,” McMaster said.
But in the case of the Ulvalde, Texas, school shooting, McMaster questioned whether tougher gun laws would have affected the outcome.
“That did not appear to be a situation where another law would have would have made any difference,” McMaster said, referring to the gunman’s access to the school and the time it took for Texas law enforcement to kill the shooter. “Again, we don’t know all the facts and I’m not judging anybody based on what we know so far. That seems to be a case where if the standard or the proper protocols were followed, much of that, if not all of it, could have been avoided.”
