Editorials from across South Carolina: gun violence, gas tax, poor school districts

Gun violence

Several pieces of legislation specifically focus on eliminating the so-called “Charleston loophole” that allowed accused Emanauel AME killer Dylann Roof to purchase that gun.

Mr. Roof should have been barred from buying a firearm after a felony drug charge was made against him a few months before he bought the gun. But a communications mix-up between state and federal agencies failed to raise red flags before the three-day maximum background check waiting period expired.

Eliminating that three-day maximum and requiring a completed process for all gun purchases is an obvious step to ensure that background checks serve their intended purpose. And it has overwhelming backing from S.C. residents.

A Winthrop University poll in October found that 80 percent of South Carolinians surveyed support requiring gun buyers to wait until a background check is completed before taking possession of the firearm, even if it takes longer than the current three-day maximum waiting period.…

Bills to close loopholes or subject more gun sales to background checks do not erode the rights of law-abiding gun owners. Bills to strengthen penalties for illegal gun possession or require stolen guns to be reported to law enforcement do not flout the Second Amendment’s protection of the freedom to bear arms.

Rather they will help protect South Carolinians from both horrific atrocities like the Emanuel shooting and from the less visible losses that impact families across the state each day.

Gas tax

Transportation Secretary Christy Hall sounded the warning in an address to South Carolina’s transportation commissioners last week, saying traffic on the state’s roads has gotten bad enough that it will effect South Carolina’s economic competitiveness in attracting new business.

In addition, Hall gave the state’s roads a D grade in day-to-day maintenance, and said most Palmetto State drivers are riding on poor pavement. She also said most bridges are in good condition, but there are high-risk areas that need to be addressed. …

South Carolina’s prices at the pump have dipped to $1.39 a gallon in spots around Aiken, and lower in the Upstate area. Gas prices run higher in Georgia and North Carolina because these neighboring states pay more than twice as much in gas taxes than South Carolina.

“For us to fully fund our road repairs we’d have to add a 40 cent per gallon tax, and nobody’s going to go for that,” (former Transportation Commission Chairman Jim) Rozier said.

So, how much is cheap gas worth to South Carolina motorists?

Corridor of Shame

(O)ur state’s deteriorating roads and bridges have been thrust to the forefront, and rightfully so. But the state’s lawmakers need to take significant action on another road crisis of sorts this session: the notorious “Corridor of Shame.”

The reference stems from a 2013 documentary highlighting the financial plight of eight school districts along the state’s I-95 corridor. In 2014, the S.C. Supreme Court ruled that the state’s school funding system was not providing students in these and dozens of other rural, high-poverty districts with a constitutionally adequate education, ending a 21-year court battle, and directed the General Assembly to seek appropriate remedies. …

In much the same way poor infrastructure negatively impacts South Carolina’s economic welfare, so does its education system. New industry is drawn to states that can provide an educated workforce in an increasingly technological age. When the ability to attract new industry lags, it costs the state both in tax revenue and in good jobs for its populace. And that affects all of us.

Education helps fuel the state’s economic engine. Moreover, the affected students deserve the same chance at a promising future as those in the rest of the state.

This story was originally published February 1, 2016 at 1:50 PM.