South Carolina Republican State Representative (Shiver!) Mike Pitts has himself a dandy idea.

We need to register journalists, not firearms.

And he’s perfectly serious.

State Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, on Tuesday introduced a bill called the “South Carolina Responsible Journalism Registry Law.”

The bill would create requirements for people wanting to work as a journalist for a media outlet, and also before that outlet could hire anyone for a reporting position.

Pitts told The Post and Courier his bill is not a reaction to any news story featuring him and that he is “not a press hater.” Rather, it’s to stimulate discussion over how he sees Second Amendment rights being treated by the printed press and television news.

There ya go.

Pitts says the press is “demonizing” firearms.  So his solution is to protect the second amendment by destroying the first amendment.

Under the bill, the Secretary of State’s Office would be tasked with keeping a “responsible journalism registry” and creating the criteria with the help of a panel on what qualifies a person as a journalist — similar to doctors and lawyers, Pitts said.

Whoa, cowboy.  Government does not regulate who can be a lawyer or a doctor; their own regulatory bodies to that.  So having government regulate who can be a journalist seems a little … I dunno … indamnsane.

“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”

That seems pretty easy to understand.

To be honest, Wild Mike knows this will never pass.  He just wanted to make “a statement.”  And that statement is, “I am an idiot.”