Bill pending signature would erase SC gun charge that’s no longer a crime
Gov. Henry McMaster signed legislation Thursday, March 7, 2024, allowing adults to legally carry a handgun without a permit. This is a file photo pistols and gun cartridges at a gun training range. (Aleksandar Georgiev/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA — When South Carolina lawmakers made it legal in March to carry handguns without a permit, they left people charged with illegal possession in limbo: Gun owners could still face conviction for a crime that’s no longer a crime.
The law, which immediately took effect with Gov. Henry McMaster’s signature March 7, allowed past convictions for unlawful carry to be expunged. But it did not address pending cases.
The legislation introduced a week later by Sen. Deon Tedder, D-Charleston, would dismiss those charges.
Tedder argues it’s a matter of basic fairness. People shouldn’t face sentencing simply due to bad timing beyond their control, he said.
“Person A pled guilty a day before the governor signed that. They can get that expunged. Person B pleads guilty” a day later and must rely on a prosecutor’s discretion, he told the SC Daily Gazette. “So, this just makes it fair across the board.”
The Senate passed it unanimously last month. The House passed it 112-2 last Tuesday.
Legislators gave final approval in the waning hours of the regular session last Thursday, as senators agreed to the House amendment. Whether it becomes law is now up to Gov. Henry McMaster.
The House added a provision that says the dismissal can’t be the basis of a lawsuit against police or prosecutors.
“Some law enforcement were concerned that, because of the change in law, that people could try to say it was an unlawful arrest,” Tedder said.
The legislation also specifies that if police used the charge of unlawful possession of a handgun as probable cause to arrest the person for something else, the related charges aren’t automatically dismissed.
The legislation would mandate what some prosecutors across the state are already doing, according to Lisa Catalanotto, executive director of the SC Commission on Prosecution Coordination.
“At least some solicitors already started dismissing these older charges after ‘constitutional carry’ was enacted anyway,” she wrote in an email.
The commission did not take a position on Tedder’s bill and is not planning to give any specific advice to solicitors about it, she said.
It is unclear how many pending cases the measure would impact.
While the commission collects data on pending cases semi-annually, it does not have numbers for unlawful possession when the permit-less carry law took effect, Catalanotto said.
That law allowed anyone 18 and over who can legally buy a handgun to carry it with or without a concealed carry permit.
The law also gave local and state law enforcement officers the ability to arrest more felons illegally carrying guns — by bringing state law in line with federal law — and increased penalties multiple arrests.
Concealed weapon permits are still available. To encourage gun owners to take the classes and get educated on gun safety and state laws, senators added a section that made the classes free and increased penalties for people who violate gun laws and don’t have a concealed carry permit.
The law put the State Law Enforcement Division in charge of arranging the free classes. It’s still unclear when those will be available.
Democrats generally opposed the proposal, and Tedder voted against final passage of the permit-less carry bill.
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