South Carolina General Assembly
119th Session, 2011-2012

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Bill 4609


Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter


(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTION 23-31-510, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE REGULATION OF THE OWNERSHIP, CARRYING, DISCHARGING, OR TRANSPORTATION OF CERTAIN WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT A LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL BODY MAY NOT ENFORCE ANY REGULATION OR ORDINANCE THAT REGULATES OR ATTEMPTS TO REGULATE THESE WEAPONS, OR AMMUNITION AND TO INCLUDE KNIVES AMONG THE WEAPONS COVERED BY THIS SECTION.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Section 23-31-510 of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 220 of 2008, is further amended to read:

"Section 23-31-510.    No governing body of any county, municipality, or other political subdivision in the State may enact, enforce, or promulgate any regulation or ordinance that regulates or attempts to regulate:

(1)    the transfer, ownership, possession, carrying, or transportation of knives, firearms, ammunition, components of firearms, or any combination of these things; or

(2)    a landowner discharging a firearm on the landowner's property to protect the landowner's family, employees, the general public, or the landowner's property from animals that the landowner reasonably believes pose a direct threat or danger to the landowner's property, people on the landowner's property, or the general public. For purposes of this item, the landowner's property must be a parcel of land comprised of at least twenty-five contiguous acres. Any ordinance regulating the discharge of firearms that does not specifically provide for an exclusion pursuant to this item is unenforceable as it pertains to an incident described in this item; otherwise, the ordinance is enforceable."

SECTION    2.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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