S.C. bill with increased domestic violence penalties, gun ban for batterers heads to Governor’s desk
Jeffrey Collins for the Associated Press reports:
A bill increasing penalties in South Carolina for repeat domestic violence offenders and banning batterers from having guns is heading to the governor’s desk.
The House voted 81-23 Thursday to accept a compromise bill. Twenty-one of the 23 votes against the bill came from Democrats who, once certain of its passage, felt they had the freedom to criticize the proposal for giving too much power to prosecutors and not doing enough to provide counseling or other help outside of the legal system.
Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter said something had to be done to move South Carolina down in the ranks as one of the top states for domestic violence, so a bad bill was better than no bill….The compromise also provides a lifetime gun ban for the worst abusers and has an automatic three- or 10-year ban in other cases.
Read the full report at the Daily Journal.
