COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson filed a lawsuit Wednesday with the state Supreme Court to strike down various ordinances adopted by the City of Columbia relating to guns.
According to the release, in 2015 the City of Columbia was advised that local gun ordinances are preempted by state law.
“The General Assembly, through state law, has reserved for itself the ability to protect its citizens’ Second Amendment rights. Therefore, the remedy for the City is to convince the Legislature to change the law, not to disregard it. In this case, the Second Amendment is paramount and cannot be undercut. We ask the Court to grant original jurisdiction first to uphold the rule of law and second to provide clear guidance to all local governments on future matters of gun regulation,” Attorney General Wilson said.
One of those ordinances allows the city to confiscate firearms from those people who have Extreme Risk Protection Orders against them. Another ordinance bans the possession of firearms within 1,000 feet of a public or private school. A third ordinance prohibits homemade firearms which have no serial number (known as ghost guns).
According to the release, Attorney General Wilson sent a letter to Mayor Steve Benjamin stating that a court would find the ordinances in violation with state law and the Second Amendment.
The attorney general said his Office strongly supports Home Rule and the right of a city or county to protect its citizens, but the State Constitution and state law must be followed and the state legislature has decided that the regulation of firearms is beyond the reach of a town, city, or county.
“We have consistently advised for almost three decades, since 1991, that state law preempts local regulation of firearms. These ordinances clearly violate the state law that prohibits local governments from passing any gun laws or ordinances that regulate the transfer, ownership, or possession of firearms,” Attorney General Wilson said. Attorney General Wilson filed the suit asking the South Carolina Supreme Court to hear the case in its original jurisdiction, which means the state’s highest court would hear the case without it working its way through lower courts first.
You can read the complaint here.