FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 3rd, 2019

Contact: Rep. Jonathon Hill, 864-245-5885

Columbia, SC—Yesterday, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson issued a legal opinion on the City of Columbia’s “red flag” ordinance 2019-056, stating that the courts could strike it down as a violation of state law (SC Code of Laws, § 23-31-510).

This unprecedented ordinance seeks to be a complete “red-flag law” enacted at the municipal level. It does not require that any crime be committed or any arrest be made prior to ordering relinquishment of a person’s firearms via an “extreme risk emergency protection order.”

The Attorney General’s opinion states that “involuntary relinquishment of firearms" under this ordinance “is a confiscation prohibited by [state law],” and that the courts would likely find the City’s arguments to the contrary “unconvincing,” since firearm policy “is a matter for the State Legislature exclusively and cannot be set at the local level.”

The opinion concludes that the Attorney General’s office “strongly supports the Second Amendment and the right of citizens to keep and bear arms….the Columbia ordinance not only undermines state law, but undercuts the Second Amendment.”

Rep. Jonathon Hill, who requested the opinion on September 27th, said: “Mayor Benjamin and the Columbia City Council pose an extreme risk to the right to self defense, not only in the city limits, but also statewide. Not only have they openly defied state law by passing this ordinance, but they have also completely circumvented the human rights protections afforded by the United States Constitution in the second, fourth, and fifth amendments.”

Hill continued, “I appreciate this thorough examination of the ordinance and of the laws of this state, and I now call on Attorney General Wilson, as chief prosecutor of South Carolina, to take the necessary legal actions to enforce state law and prevent further overreaches by local government officials.”

The Attorney General’s opinion is consistent with a similar opinion, previously requested by Rep. Hill, on the city’s July “ghost gun” ordinance (24-264).

Click to read the full opinion: