Category: Individual Liberties

S.946 would allow the owner of a vehicle that unlawfully overtakes a school bus to be ticketed even if the driver of the vehicle can’t be identified. This directly contradicts the…

S.944 and S.935 each seek to impose limits on the use of statehouse grounds by requiring groups to receive some form of permission before use. S.944 requires the Director of…

S.943 would require that anyone who purchases a firearm register that firearm’s serial number and their contact information with the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) within 30 days of purchase.…

S.942 is truly Orwellian. The bill would require any state resident to obtain a “weapons purchase permit” from the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) before buying a firearm or ammunition…

S.941 would mandate that no person or firearm dealer sell or transfer a firearm prior to the completion of a background check through the State Law Enforcement Division and the…

S.939 would prohibit the ownership, transportation, or sale of “assault weapons” by private individuals in South Carolina. The term assault weapon is vaguely defined by the bill as “semi-automatic firearms…

S.930 would eliminate adverse possession in South Carolina colloquially known as squatter’s rights. Under current law if an individual, other than the legal owner, holds or possesses a piece of…

S.917, S.918, H.4551 and H.4552 would all prohibit a licensed firearm dealer from transferring a firearm before either the completion of a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) check, or…

S.913 would make police dashcam videos subject to FOIA. While this could help punish and prevent abuses of police power, it could also enable the use of dashcam video by third…

H.4496 and H.4522 each attempt to protect innocent citizens from police surveillance by respectively prohibiting automatic number plate recognition systems and cell-site simulator technology or devices (commonly known as stingrays). Both of these devices, whether through the…

H.4463, H.4485, H.4533, H.4439, H.4618 and S.915 are hate crime laws that impose additional penalties on criminals who committed a violent or threatening act against an individual, because of the individual’s race, religion, sexual…

H.4422 would allow a law enforcement agency to photograph a motor vehicle with an illegal defect and then contact the owner of the vehicle by phone or mail informing them of…

H.4421 would require an individual register any “unmanned aerial vehicle, an unpiloted aerial vehicle, or a remotely piloted aerial vehicle” (aka drone), with the aeronautics commission prior to operating such…

S.940 would require any handgun dealer or owner to immediately report the loss or theft of a handgun to a law enforcement agency. Just how this law would be enforced…

Companion bills H.4630 and S.906 would require that any interrogation conducted on a person in custody, and related to a felony or Class A misdemeanor, be recorded in its entirety by…

ON CARRYING FIREARMS, THE PRESUMPTION SHOULD BE ONE OF LIBERTY S.105 and companion bills S.570 and H.3716 are all attempts to enact a policy of “constitutional carry.” If passed, any of the…

SOME SLOPES REALLY ARE SLIPPERY [Update: S.868 has been amended. The amendment has replaced the entire text of the bill with a provision stating that the eminent domain powers granted to telegraph…

According to companion bills H.4326 and S.868, pipelines for transporting petroleum products are “vital to the welfare of the people of this State” and, thus, the companies that own and…

S.647 would clarify that it is indeed legal for a private citizen to film the police in public. Citizens already have the right to record in public places. S.647 would…

 S.426 would permit circuit solicitors to establish mental health court programs to serve “qualifying mentally ill offenders”. Any circuit solicitor that accepts state funding to create a mental health court…

S.498 would make it a crime for a private individual to fly a drone equipped with a camera or recording device over the property of another. The bill would also…

H.3669 would increase regulations on firearms by requiring a license to engage in the “casual” sale of a handgun. “Casual” in this context means the sale of a handgun by a…

One consistent aspect of law is that it usually reflects the conditions of society as a whole. In the case of H.3510, the condition addressed by this proposed bill is…

S.380 reforms South Carolina’s asset forfeiture laws by stipulating that all property subject to forfeiture reform may not be seized by an investigating agency prior to a criminal conviction. Other provision…

H.3453 would establish that students enrolled in public institutions of higher education or student organizations have the right to be represented by an attorney or “nonattorney advocate” at a “disciplinary proceeding…

H.3419 would make the offense of unlawfully carrying a handgun a felony with a potential penalty of a $10,000 fine and 10 years in prison. Under current law unlawful carrying…

H.3404 would create new felonies and accompanying sentences for offenses against a person (think murder, assault, etc.), or destroying or defacing property, if the offense was committed with the intent…

H.3208 is a reintroduction of last session’s H.5028. The bill would stipulate that right of way acquisition cost for government bodies exercising eminent domain include compensation to landowners within 1000…

 S.179 would make it illegal to use, sell, purchase, or even possess powdered or crystalline alcohol (powders that can be mixed with water to create alcoholic beverages). This product isn’t…

 H.3139 seeks to reign in South Carolina’s asset forfeiture laws; laws that currently allow law enforcement to seize and retain private property and monies law enforcement claims was connected to…