SC open carry law: mixed feelings

I have open carried in Georgetown and Charleston South Carolina, with an Enhanced Mississippi CCW permit, in October. I had no problems except at the Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site. After about 20 minutes of openly carrying through the exhibit area in the main building, I was told I could not carry at the park due to park policy, but then presented the new state code about open carry. At this point, I talked to Park Manager David Baker, who eventually told me I could conceal carry, but not open carry. I informed him that open and concealed carry were now lawfully the same but in the interest of rejoining my family, who were already in the park, I agreed to conceal. He said he would inform his superiors of my concern that they are not abiding by the law. It would be good for some of you locals to revisit open carry at that park. It is really a nice park and I enjoyed myself.

HLB

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TBH that’s why I don’t open carry. Ignorance about the law plays to our advantage. Now they have the opportunity to read the law and post correctly, thereby stripping the rights of lawful carriers.

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GuitarGuy, How does posting correctly strip the rights of lawful carriers?

HLB

No concealed signs

1st ) welcome to the forum.
2nd.) SC Concealed weapon law states that a business needs to correctly post correct sized, and at the correct height, at all entrances and exits, the state approved sign that states no concealed carry permitted within these premisis.

heres what i found from a simple google :

(10) place clearly marked with a sign prohibiting the carrying of a concealable weapon on the premises pursuant to Sections 23-31-220 and 23-31-235. Except that a property owner or an agent acting on his behalf, by express written consent, may allow individuals of his choosing to enter onto property regardless of any posted sign to the contrary. A person who violates a provision of this item, whether the violation is wilful or not, only may be charged with a violation of Section 16-11-620 and must not be charged with or penalized for a violation of this subsection.

23:31:220 -
B) The posting by the employer, owner, or person in legal possession or control of a sign stating “NO CONCEALABLE WEAPONS ALLOWED” shall constitute notice to a person holding a permit issued pursuant to this article that the employer, owner, or person in legal possession or control requests that concealable weapons, whether concealed or openly carried, not be brought upon the premises or into the work place. A person who brings a concealable weapon, whether concealed or openly carried, onto the premises or work place in violation of the provisions of this paragraph may be charged with a violation of Section 16-11-620. In addition to the penalties provided in Section 16-11-620, a person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of the provisions of this paragraph must have his permit revoked for a period of one year. The prohibition contained in this section does not apply to persons specified in Section 16-23-20, item (1).

and here is perhaps the most important part:

SECTION 23-31-235. Sign requirements.

(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this article, any requirement of or allowance for the posting of signs prohibiting the carrying of a concealable weapon, whether concealed or openly carried, upon any premises shall only be satisfied by a sign expressing the prohibition in both written language interdict and universal sign language.

(B) All signs must be posted at each entrance into a building where a concealable weapon permit holder is prohibited from carrying a concealable weapon, whether concealed or openly carried, and must be:

(1) clearly visible from outside the building;

(2) eight inches wide by twelve inches tall in size;

(3) contain the words “NO CONCEALABLE WEAPONS ALLOWED” in black one-inch tall uppercase type at the bottom of the sign and centered between the lateral edges of the sign;

(4) contain a black silhouette of a handgun inside a circle seven inches in diameter with a diagonal line that runs from the lower left to the upper right at a forty-five degree angle from the horizontal;

(5) a diameter of a circle; and

(6) placed not less than forty inches and not more than sixty inches from the bottom of the building’s entrance door.

(C) If the premises where concealable weapons are prohibited does not have doors, then the signs contained in subsection (A) must be:

(1) thirty-six inches wide by forty-eight inches tall in size;

(2) contain the words “NO CONCEALABLE WEAPONS ALLOWED” in black three-inch tall uppercase type at the bottom of the sign and centered between the lateral edges of the sign;

(3) contain a black silhouette of a handgun inside a circle thirty-four inches in diameter with a diagonal line that is two inches wide and runs from the lower left to the upper right at a forty-five degree angle from the horizontal and must be a diameter of a circle whose circumference is two-inches wide;

(4) placed not less than forty inches and not more than ninety-six inches above the ground;

(5) posted in sufficient quantities to be clearly visible from any point of entry onto the premises.

(D) Nothing in this section prevents a public or private employer or owner of a business from posting a sign regarding the prohibition or allowance on those premises of concealable weapons, whether concealed or openly carried, which may be unique to that business.

the sign generally looks like this but must be within the guidelines above. :

Hope that helps everyone.

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Thanks for the welcome. I travel through South Carolina frequently and welcome the new law as I generally carry openly on my travels and sometimes I don’t know when I have passed in to South Carolina at a fuel station. The Charles Towne Landing State Historic Site that I visited had very small no weapons stickers, obviously left over from long ago. The Manager said that they had a meeting to discuss the new law and decided on no weapons or concealed only as their policy. I did mention that policy was not law. I did see some of the new No Concealable Weapons signs posted about town, but not too many. It is good that you guys are staying with this.

HLB

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yeah. im very thankful we can open carry now… not that i run around open carrying all the time, or at all lately, but its freedom, and the fact i can if i want to.

we just have to make sure that we keep on the law so we know what is what cause we dont wanna get burned by not understanding or knowing why something was something.

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I can’t really remember the last time I saw a no weapons sign other than a Bank. This is in the Greenville / Greer area.
Kind of a funny story, there is a theater in Greenville that sits on the border of a not so nice area. Their no weapons sign was a small minimum legal size that was posted at the end of their ticket booth, facing away from the parking lot. You just knew the Manager purposely put it there so it wouldn’t be noticed.

um just to clarify… there is no minimul legal size. there is only the legal size. anything other than the size as listed above, simply is illegal.

if the sign is of illegal size it does not matter to begin with where it is posted.

if the sign is of legal size the sign must be posted at the predetermined height as listed above, and must be posted at every entrance and exit to that building. Otherwise, it is illegal. for instance:

if it is of legal size, and posted at the legal height, but only posted on one of 2 entry doorways/exit doorways, it’s illegally posted and you can carry.

if it is of legal size and posted at every entry way and exit, but is not posted at the proper height, well its illegal and you can carry.

If the sign i of legal size, posted at the legal height, and posted at every entrance and exit at the legal height, then it is a legally posted do not carry concealed site and you must not carry.

it can get confusing quickly. and lets face it most of us arent walking around carrying a measuring tape checking every place we go for legality of sign height. purposefully, when i see an incorrect posted sign, i say nothing about it. why would i want to help them prohibit concealed carry by helping them correct their signage height and type and locations? exactly, i dont want to. so i dont.

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Minimum means the smallest legal size. A sign can certainly be larger than the law states and still be legal.
The sign was not at the entrance, it was at the end of the ticket booth. It was entirely possible to purchase a ticket and walk to the entrance without ever seeing that sign.

This was a point of contention when the concealed carry laws were being argued before being passed. at the time, sc had a group called Grass Roots Gun Rights. and they had a paid lobbyist who had made it a point to ensure that the south carolina concealed carry law stated that in order for a business to be a leagally posted you may not carry concealed in this building, that the sign had to be exactly a certain size, exactly a certain height from the ground, and at every single entrance and exit to the building, as well as having the writing on the sign and images be standardized to the point of even denoting the firearm had to be a pistol pointing to the right in a red circle with a slash mark through it from right to left, over the words NO CONCEALABLE WEAPONS ALLOWED. Even the Height of the lettering had to be a certain size. That way it ensured that those of us who are legal carrying CWP holders, would not be caught unawares by entering a place carrying when we shouldnt be. it was one of the topics in my CWP class that they harped on was the sinage size, location, look, etc.

Minimum does mean the smallest size but it also alludes to there existing a maximum… which in this case, are the same, so therefore a sign can not be larger then the law states and be legal.

you could have all your doors to your business be full size vynil no Concealed weapons signs, and anyone with a Cwp could legally carry in there without an issue. because the sign is not legal.

as for the location you said about the ticket booth versus entrance yea ive seen that alot in the past… and never paid them any concern because its illegally posted, which means im legal to carry and lets face it thats all we all care about anyways


20211031_075136
This is interesting. Both of these are in the Greenville area. One or both are not legal. Good information.

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Columbiana Mall at Harbison is Posted also but not legal. Not every door has the signs, and iirc they arnt in compliance with the law as far as size.

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Westgate mall in Spartanburg used to be the same way. The main mall entrances were posted, but the dept. Stores with outside entrances were not.

the second sign, while looking to be a the right height, and in plain unobstructed view looks legal. that said, unfortunately the image in it, is not. therefore it is an illegal posted sign.

There is already an Open Carry Law in South Carolina. As long as you have a CWP (Concealed Weapons Permit) you can also Open Carry in this state. Did you mean to say “Consitutional Carry”? 25 States already allow Constitutional Carry, not sure if South Carolina is on the list for it in 2023. I think they prefer it the way it is. Personally, so do I.

Uuuummm, more of a Constitutional carry guy here.

im a fan of constitutional carry too… but i’d still conceal it more than open.

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