Law-abiding adults can now carry guns openly in South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Any adult who can legally own a gun can now carry one openly in South Carolina after Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill into law, just a day after it received final legislative approval.

The signature on Thursday from McMaster – behind closed doors, without media invited in – makes South Carolina the 29th state to enact permitless carry.

The new law means adults 18 and older who can legally possess guns – can now openly carry them without a permit or training.

Guns are still banned in the same places they were before – like schools and courthouses.

And people who want to can still obtain a concealed weapons permit, though this new law lowers the eligible age from 21 to 18.

“I’ve been very adamant that these are our Second Amendment rights under our constitution, and that anything government’s done has taken that away from us. So I think this is a step where government’s getting out of the way,” said Sen. Shane Martin, R-Spartanburg.

The legislation got through, despite objections from police chiefs from around the state – who were concerned about officers arriving on chaotic scenes where multiple people are armed.

Gun rights ers have pushed for the law for nearly a decade, first allowing open carry for people who took the training to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Encouraging that kind of training was one of the biggest roadblocks for the new law. A Senate proposal to provide millions of dollars for free gun training across the state needed to get a concealed weapons permit was part of what cleared the way.

The law also provides stiffer penalties for people who repeatedly carry guns in places where they would still be banned, like schools or courthouses, or commit crimes while armed, whether they use the weapon or not. The penalties can be enhanced if the offender doesn’t have a concealed weapons permit.

For McMaster, the stiffer penalties for criminals possessing guns when they shouldn’t and people who illegally use weapons was the most important part of the new law.

“Now law enforcement, prosecutors and judges can keep career violent criminals behind bars where they belong where they can no longer hurt innocent South Carolinians,” McMaster said in a statement after the Senate approved the compromise Wednesday. The House ed it on Tuesday.

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