For those who think that those on the left side of the political spectrum come up with all the idiotic political ideas, The State of Columbia, S.C., reports otherwise:

State Rep. Mike Pitts, R-Laurens, filed a bill in the S.C. House Tuesday to establish a “responsible journalism registry” to be operated by the S.C. secretary of state.

Details of the proposal were not available Tuesday, only a summary.

That summary says the bill would “establish requirements for persons before working as a journalist for a media outlet and for media outlets before hiring a journalist.” The summary also includes registration fees, and sets fines and criminal penalties for violations.

The proposed registry “is ridiculous and totally unconstitutional,” said Bill Rogers, executive director of the S.C. Press Association. The State newspaper is a member of the Press Association.

The government can not require journalists to register, Rogers said, citing the First Amendment to the Bill of Rights, which ensures freedom of the press.

Why would a legislator blatantly insult the First Amendment like this? The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., reveals the answer:

An Upstate lawmaker who tried to keep the Confederate flag flying and whose campaign spending habits were part of a Post and Courier examination of Statehouse money trails says it’s time to register journalists in the state. …

The measure is at least the second bill filed in the Statehouse this year with virtually no chance of advancing, but is meant to emphasize a lawmaker’s personal statement. …

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. He added that the bill is modeled directly after the “concealed weapons permitting law.”

“It strikes me as ironic that the first question is constitutionality from a press that has no problem demonizing firearms,” Pitts said. “With this statement I’m talking primarily about printed press and TV. The TV stations, the six o’clock news and the printed press has no qualms demonizing gun owners and gun ownership.”

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.

Pitts said the criminal penalties mentioned in his bill for violations would be “minor fines” similar to those concealed weapons permit holders face.

The Laurens lawmaker questioned whether working journalists actually follow the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, which outlines principles for professional journalists to follow to ensure fair and accurate reporting.

“Do journalists, by definition, really adhere to a code of ethics?” Pitts asked. “The problem that I have with the printed press is, like I said, it appears especially in the last decade to me each story has become more editorial than reporting. It might just be my perception.”

The bill was sent to the Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry and Pitts is hopeful for a hearing, at the least, and he said he received strong support from several representatives.

“Let’s be realistic this is an election year, it is well into the second year and the Senate is not going to do anything this year and certainly not going to do anything controversial,” Pitts said. “So no I don’t anticipate it going anywhere. Would I mind getting a hearing on it to further the debate and discussion? I would love to have that.”

Pitts, who sits on the House Ethics Committee, was featued in the Post and Courier report “Capitol Gains” for his trips out West to Alaska, Oregon, South Dakota and Montana to hobnob at summits with “sportsmen legislators.” On one occasion he received a $1,104 trip in 2014 to attend the annual National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses Summit in Sunriver, Ore., where he was also went hunting. He used campaign money to gas up his rental car on the trip. There was nothing illegal in the spending.

Pitts also was the leading advocate for keeping the Confederate flag flying outside the Statehouse during last summer’s flag debate in the wake of the Emanuel AME Church shootings.

University of South Carolina journalism professor, veteran newsman and Dean of the College of Information of Communications Charles Bierbauer was one of several media sources in the state that said Pitts’ proposal had no chance of ever becoming reality.

“It says here in the building where I work that ‘Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press’ ” Bierbauer said in reference to the new journalism school.

Of Pitt’s proposal he added, “These are nuisance bills that allow an elected official to say ‘I proposed to bring down those muckrakers.’ ”

So Pitts is trying to compare the First Amendment to the Second Amendment. Fine. He should be a fan of both. Apparently he is a fan of the former only until he is a target. This is why journalists worthy of the title are skeptical of all politicians, regardless of party, or lack of party.