H. 4364 to be debated in House Judiciary Gen. Laws Subcomm

[Rentiers]

A gun-related bill will be debated in the SC House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee at 9:00am on Thursday, January 24th, 2008.

H. 4364 would make it lawful for certain persons under age 21 to possess or acquire handguns if the individual works in a company that manufactures, repairs or repossesses firearms.

http://www.scstatehouse.net/sess117_2007-2008/bills/4364.htm

[Rentiers]

The aforementioned bill was passed favorably out of subcommittee to the full Judiciary committee. The House JudCom has the bill on their agenda for tomorrow. It is expected to pass.

[hpj3]

Bill - could you elaborate on this a little? What is the purpose? Intent?

Howard

[Rentiers]

I'd be happy to Howard.

In its original form, H. 4364 was sponsored by Rep. Mike Pitts (R-Laurens) at the request of a particular firearms dealer who likes to hire college students to work in his store during spring & summer break. The AG's opinion was that these students could not even HANDLE a handgun (such as handing it to a customer who was thinking about buying it) unless they were 21 years old. Many of the students were only between the ages of 18 & 20. H. 4364 was designed to permit persons under age 21 "who work in the firearms industry" to lawfully handle handguns "when at work." (NOTE: this would have included persons below age 18 also).

Sen. Brad Hutto (D-Orangeburg) amended H. 4364 during a recent Senate Judiciary Committee meeting to give the same handgun possession rights to ANY person age 18 and above (but not below). The amendment was accepted by the House and sent to Governor Sanford for his signature. I have called the Governor's office yesterday and today to find out what His Excellency's pleasure is regarding sign/veto/ignore of H. 4364 and I do not yet have a conclusive answer from his staff, but I suspect he will sign it.

If Gov. Sanford does not veto the bill by midnight tonight, it becomes law anyway.

Bill Rentiers

[hpj3]

Thanks, Bill...

Could ther be some negative impact from other states re: reciprocity? I seem to remember that it was an issue with some of the anti-s earlier.

Howard