COLUMBIA — As the granddaughter of a man gunned down last year at Emanuel AME Church stood on the Statehouse steps pleading for gun reform, a Senate committee chairman inside pledged to hold a hearing for a bill that could extend the waiting period when purchasing firearms.

Pickens Republican Sen. Larry Martin, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, agreed to take public testimony this summer on proposed bills that could extend the time allowed for running a background check when purchasing a handgun from three days to up to 28.

Sen. Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston, who sponsors one of the background-check bills, said he was encouraged the legislation finally was going to get a hearing, even though there is no way for it to become law this year.

“It is the will of the people to have background checks addressed,” Kimpson said Thursday afternoon at the Hands Around the Statehouse Rally before engaging in a floor debate with Martin over his refusal to schedule a hearing on the bill. “It does not make any sense, under any scenario, to have a background check that does not have to be complete.”

http://www.postandcourier.com/20160512/160519795/statehouse-gun-reform-rally-ends-shortly-before-senator-decides-to-hold-background-check-bill-hearing