Editorials from across South Carolina: gun safety, school district consolidation, legislative redistricting

Gun safety

Three-year-old Kayleb Fletcher McMahan of Anderson County died May 12 when he accidentally shot himself with a gun left unattended by a family member. Authorities have said the death was accidental.…

(C)hildren without the proper guidance think it’s cool to pick up a gun and pull the trigger.

Kayleb was too young to know any better. Curiosity got the best of him and he did what 3-year-olds do, he picked up the gun to play with it.

The last thing anyone in his family needs is a lecture. They are suffering enough. But let Kayleb’s death be a lesson to other adults who choose to keep guns in the proximity of children. Perhaps another child’s life can be saved with a safety lock.

“I know women who lived out in the country and wanted to have a firearm but wouldn’t dare get one until their kids were grown up,” says (pawn shop owner) Dewey Lemons. “And you don’t just have to worry about your kids, you have to worry about your kids’ friends (handling firearms).”

Responsible use of firearms is a right.

Irresponsible and reckless use of guns can have terrible and irreversible consequences.

District consolidation

As the General Assembly weighs how to achieve educational parity between rich and poor districts, lawmakers this past year got results of a study that concluded rural districts suffered from generally small size, with an inability to recruit teachers, offer the latest technology and purchase goods and services economically.

Against that backdrop, Orangeburg County lawmakers with little or no fanfare moved ahead late in the 2017 session with a plan to consolidate the three school districts into one countywide school district. The legislation appears to be on the way to approval.

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McMaster on consolidating more school districts in South Carolina

Want more state money? School districts should merge services first, SC superintendent says

SC lawmakers: schools need more funding, consolidation

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The outcry of concern is not unexpected. One has only to look back at years of debate and angst preceding merging eight districts into the three in 1996. Most members of the county legislative delegation are deeply familiar with the issues, having been in the Legislature when the consolidation occurred. While they now face criticism of acting without adequate input from the leaders in the three districts and citizens, the lawmakers are aware the handwriting is on the wall for the future: Consolidating governance and administration into a single entity is inevitable.

Redistricting

The process of redrawing electoral districts — whether for the Statehouse or for Congress — has become both a science and an art, with the resulting creation of safe seats for the legislators who control the process. In South Carolina, the process has recently benefited Republican legislators the most.

So it was particularly significant when Republican Sen. Sandy Senn of Charleston signed on as a co-sponsor to the bill (to create an independent redistricting commission). She cites the strange district forms created by gerrymandering as making constituent service more difficult than it ought to be.

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Want a better Legislature? Start with better districts

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Sen. Senn notes that her district, though largely in Charleston County, extends to take in a portion of Dorchester County, which includes about 8 percent of her constituents. Sen. Senn emphasizes that she keeps up with the interests of those who live in the Dorchester County portion .…

But the fact that it is 45 minutes away from the majority of her Charleston-based district doesn’t make it easy.

Meanwhile, one section of the Avondale neighborhood is in Sen. Senn’s District 41, and the remainder is in Rep. Marlon Kimpson’s District 42. One side of James Island’s Camp Road is in her district, and the other side is in Sen. Chip Campsen’s district.

The people of South Carolina would be better served with geographically compact districts, where neighborhoods aren’t routinely divided for electoral purposes.

With gerrymandering, the shapes of the districts serve legislative careers.

Such a convoluted system wouldn’t be produced by a citizen-based redistricting commission.