While the primary suspect was quickly arrested in connection to the Five Points shootings this weekend, there’s a possibility he may be able to roam the streets again.
Under South Carolina law, all citizens charged with a non-capital offense are eligible to receive a bond hearing. While this law keeps in the American ideal of "innocent until proven guilty," its hard to fathom that someone with a rap sheet like Shiquan Tyon Cwiklinkski's, the main suspect in the case, could simply come up with bail and be set free on an unsuspecting public.
We simply can’t afford to let dangerous criminals back on the street, and we hope it’s a sentiment shared by our lawmakers. While a bill to end such a dangerous legal loophole has already started to appear in the legislature, we hope this issue receives legislators’ attention.
What we don’t need them to do, however, is expand the list of places where people with concealed carry permits could carry their guns to include restaurants and bars. It’s mind-boggling to think our lawmakers would entertain the idea that adding more weapons to places habitually filled with alcohol and inebriated partiers could do anything but more harm.
And it’s sadly ironic they could possibly decide to allow this in the very city that has seen multiple recent violent activities with many victims, some of them our fellow Gamecocks. As our legislature debates these upcoming bills, we can only hope they focus on legislation that truly matters and reject legislation that will only endanger both students and South Carolina as a whole.
More Like This
Column: The hypocrisy of protesting against free speech
By Ross Abbott | Nov. 10, 2015