What’s Going On With Constitutional Carry?

Dear fellow patriot,

We’ve made significant gains this year.

Sadly, the establishment in Columbia wants to see how close they can get to passing Constitutional Carry, without actually doing so.

As it stands, anti-gun Senators are potentially running the clock out for Constitutional Carry, leaving our state as an outlier. 

…The ONLY Republican-held state that still refuses to pass this pro-gun legislation.

I hate to write that as much as you hate to read it but…

Remember, South Carolina has two-year sessions, so Constitutional Carry is not dead, not by a long shot.

In fact, thanks to your activism, the political class has found themselves outnumbered and outplayed, leaving them the only remaining tactic of delaying the inevitable. 

And when Senators come back in January, they are faced with a vote for Constitutional Carry at the precipice of a campaign season.

This vote will not be taken lightly by gun owners.

And they know we’re watching.

Rest assured, if we’ve learned anything these past few years, it’s that Columbia will not take up pro-gun legislation unless extreme pressure is applied.

But we’ve also learned that when PGR members band together, things happen.

This year, we passed Constitutional Carry in the House by a whopping victory of 87 to 26, the largest winning margin for this pro-gun legislation in state history.

Then we turned our focus to the Senate.

Together, we dumped an avalanche of grassroots pressure into several key Senate districts.

Palmetto Gun Rights spent weeks planning and organizing a massive door knocking campaign across the state, dishing out a brutal volley of hand-delivered accountability.

This, coupled with a hard-hitting social media campaign, hundreds of phone calls, more than 15,000 mailers and tens of thousands of emails, led to numerous Senators buckling under the pressure and voting yes for Constitutional Carry.

Not only did we force Constitutional Carry bill S. 109 through the Senate Judiciary Committee, but also successfully recalled Constitutional Carry bill H. 3594 to the Senate calendar by a margin of 24 to 18.

As Executive Director, I’ve spent the last six months witnessing the evidence of your activism.

If anything helped us hold the line, it was seeing the fruits of your hard work spring forth at seemingly every turn.

From our comments sections on Facebook to the messages you’ve sent me via email, it’s obvious that the grassroots have never been more engaged.

So, while I am disappointed with politicians in Columbia, I could not be more pleased with your efforts in holding your legislators accountable.

You’ve made sure the donations come in and mailers go out.

And I’ve seen the fruit of your efforts as I was berated by Senators in the hallways of Columbia and cussed by Moms Demand Action activists on the elevator.

I’ve knocked on doors and organized social media campaigns to drive calls to the offices of anti-gun politicians in Columbia.

Despite the action of PGR and our staff, absolutely none of this is possible without the support you showed our organization in helping fight for the restoration of our rights.

I am thoroughly convinced that you and I pushed the envelope, leaving no stone unturned this session.

And even though we have to wait until January, we have this consolation that we will not tire, get discouraged, or be placated until Constitutional Carry becomes law.

I wanted to write this email as a thank you to you and every dedicated gun owner across the state.

Our work would be impossible without your aid.

However, not only do we have another legislative season on the horizon, but the 2024 election will be here before we know it.

And I’ve got to set to work NOW to prepare our election accountability programs.

The amount of political pain we get to dish out gets decided long before next year, so I need your immediate help to set our budgets and turn up the heat.

There’s still a handful of politicians in Columbia who need to answer to gun owners.

But without the resources to EXPOSE their misdeeds when they’re most vulnerable, our efforts will fall flat.

So please, chip in $5, $10, $30 or more to help us plan for the next season of political pain.

Thank you once again for your dedication.

The fight isn’t over.

Let us not become weary in doing good for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. — Galatians 6:9

For Freedom, 

Tommy Dimsdale

Executive Director

Palmetto Gun Rights