Welcome to Bizarro Amerika!

Legislation weaving its way through the House of Representatives would increase the number of places that legal gun owners can carry their guns to include restaurants, day-care centers and churches.

“It puts criminals on the defense,” said state Rep. Thad Viers, R-Horry, a co-sponsor of the bill and the owner of about 25 firearms and a concealed weapons permit. “Criminals don’t know if you’re carrying or not.”

If it passes, the bill will become just one of many pro-gun bills to win legislative approval in South Carolina – a state where being pro-gun is a priority for Republican and Democratic lawmakers.

Why?

"It’s cultural,” said state Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, who also has a concealed weapons permit.

And S.C. voters love it, adds a USC professor, noting 89 percent voted last fall to make hunting a constitutional right.

In fact, in South Carolina, the fights come when gun advocates say proposals don’t go far enough.

Take the bill Viers amended.

Some gun advocates, including GrassRoots South Carolina, oppose an amended version of his bill, saying it violates the constitutional rights of gun owners by limiting the places that out-of-staters and young adults can carry their guns.

Under the amended bill, it would continue to be illegal for gun owners to carry their weapons into courthouses, police stations, schools, prisons, polling sites and any place that posts a sign prohibiting concealed weapons.

Grassroots South Carolina and the National Rifle Association, a national gun rights organization, are working with lawmakers to restore it to its original version. That version, introduced by state Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, would increase the places gun owners could carry guns, eliminate the need for a concealed weapons permit in South Carolina and allow out-of-staters who legally own guns to carry them in South Carolina.