South Carolina County Seeks to Ban Shooting Guns on Personal Property
Gun Owners are pushing back against an illegal proposal by the Spartanburg, South Carolina County Council to restrict the discharge of firearms in unincorporated areas of the county.
The Spartanburg Sheriff’s Office had received several complaints about gunshots being fired.
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Fox Carolina reports:
County Council created a committee to draft an ordinance as to where guns cannot be discharged. Officials said the Spartanburg Sheriff’s Office received a number of complaints about neighbors shooting in their backyards in densely populated areas.
There are currently no restrictions on where a gun can be fired within county limits and residents took aim at the idea of adding one.
Councilman David Britt said that this ordinance will only impact those who live in subdivisions.
“You’re talking about densely populated subdivisions. A lot of them have less than an acres a lot of these subdivisions have less than a half an acre and there are people shooting in their backyards with children right behind it,” Britt said.
According to Britt the ordinance is still in the early phases, but he says that he wants citizens input to come up with solutions.
Many citizens showed up and expressed the proper solution.
“I’m not for this new law and ordinance for taking my rights away and my pursuit of happiness,” said one resident during the hearing.
Another resident, Jim McMillan, echoed that sentiment, “We can’t let complaints take precedent over rights and that’s what we’re having here.”
“I shoot skeet on my property,” he added. “I fire pistols on my property. It would impact me teaching my grandchildren how to fire a weapon.”
“The operative word is safety. Safety for our family, our children who are out of school this time of year,” Spartanburg County resident Michael Fowler said.
“It is a matter of safety, but it’s also a matter of liberty. They both count,” said Duncan resident Cherry Laurens.
Here’s the real issue. In South Carolina, there is no authority given to government to infringe on the rights of the people to keep and bear arms. South Carolina’s Constitution reads exactly the same as that of the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights contained in the federal constitution:
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
The rest of Section 20 of the Bill of Rights of the SC Constitution adds:
As, in times of peace, armies are dangerous to liberty, they shall not be maintained without the consent of the General Assembly. The military power of the State shall always be held in subordination to the civil authority and be governed by it. No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner nor in time of war but in the manner prescribed by law. (1970 (56) 2684; 1971 (57) 315.)
One resident warned the council, “You are opening up Spartanburg County to be a gun rights battlefield.”
Safety and liberty are both involved. However, here is how they play out. Safety is the responsibility of gun owners, not government. Government is to protect the rights of gun owners. They are to praise those who do good and punish those who do evil (Rom. 13:1-5).
As Aaron Weiss said so eloquently, “My right trumps your dead! I earned it in blood!” Indeed! As the push was to enact more communist-style gun confiscation following Sandy Hook, Weiss realized his liberties were being attacked in the name of “safety.”
It seems the solution is simple. People who are concerned about gunshots by law-abiding citizens should stay indoors and stop attempting to criminalize what is not criminal. Those who are firing their guns should always practice good gun safety. Problem solved, but it requires that people take responsibility for themselves, not had over their God-given rights to government.
