Laws on firing near homes?
I went through SLED's laws on their website and looked up the local municipal code for my county (Pickens SC) and wasn't able to find anything saying how far away you must be from a home or residence to discharge a weapon.. I am hoping to do some hunting down the power line fire breaks and cant figure out what the legal distance from a home must be in case the neighbors complain. Anyone know anything about the situation I am in?
This law in SC tends to be in county ordinances. I'm in Richland County and the county's website links
here.
For Richland County, Chapter 18 Offenses - Section 1 Discharge of firearms:
- Not within 200 yds of a school.
- Not within 300 yds of a dwelling, business, or subdivision (with a whole bunch of exceptions you might to have explain to a deputy if you get their attention).
ETA: Pickens County ordinances
here and is current through June 21, 2010. I don't see anything similar to Richland County's firearms discharge in Pickens County ordinances when searching for "firearms."
I am not a lawyer. Just some schmuck who has had to look this stuff up for a neighbor who had a round go through his little girl's room on a Saturday afternoon.
Originally Posted By MitchbSC:
This law in SC tends to be in county ordinances. I'm in Richland County and the county's website links
here.
For Richland County, Chapter 18 Offenses - Section 1 Discharge of firearms:
- Not within 200 yds of a school.
- Not within 300 yds of a dwelling, business, or subdivision (with a whole bunch of exceptions you might to have explain to a deputy if you get their attention).
ETA: Pickens County ordinances
here and is current through June 21, 2010. I don't see anything similar to Richland County's firearms discharge in Pickens County ordinances when searching for "firearms."
I am not a lawyer. Just some schmuck who has had to look this stuff up for a neighbor who had a round go through his little girl's room on a Saturday afternoon.
Thanks for the response. I checked the municode website as well but I didnt find anything. What about a noise complaint ? Could they get me in trouble for breaking some noise ordnance? I looked and have no idea what the code is saying on that. I assume it has something to do with me being able to reach a certain decibel only during certain times of the day.
I looked at "noise" in searches of the Pickens Co ordinances. Those ordinances refer to non-residential and industrial uses of land.
I think you saw(?):
ARTICLE VI. - PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR INDUSTRIAL, COMMERCIAL, AND NON-RESIDENTIAL USES
Section 6.3 - Noise.
Originally Posted By MitchbSC:
I looked at "noise" in searches of the Pickens Co ordinances. Those ordinances refer to non-residential and industrial uses of land.
I think you saw(?):
ARTICLE VI. - PERFORMANCE STANDARDS FOR INDUSTRIAL, COMMERCIAL, AND NON-RESIDENTIAL USES
Section 6.3 - Noise.
Yea thats what I was looking at. Do you know of a way to read the State Municipal Codes , that website makes you pay for a membership if you want to read them . Maybe some of this falls under that.
Which city?
I can apply some google-fu to see if I can find them for free.
ETA and FWIW: The City of Columbia is on
Municode too. The city has done various land grabs in Richland County. It would be a bowl of laughs to accidentally run into this one if you thought you were busting caps on unincorporated county land far enough from houses and other government temples (schools):
"It shall be unlawful for any person to fire or discharge within the corporate limits of the city any gun, pistol, rifle, firearm, weapon, small arms, air rifle, BB rifle, air pistol, pellet gun, target gun, signal gun, slingshot, bow and arrow, crossbow, rocket or explosive, or any fireworks not authorized by the fire prevention code. "
Originally Posted By MitchbSC:
Which city?
I can apply some google-fu to see if I can find them for free.
Central SC. But I don't worry about it I just read up that you said most codes are at the county level. i guess I will call the sheriff on Monday.
Originally Posted By Wigglesdabum:
Originally Posted By MitchbSC:
Which city?
I can apply some google-fu to see if I can find them for free.
Central SC. But I don't worry about it I just read up that you said most codes are at the county level. i guess I will call the sheriff on Monday.
I was not clear enough. I need to clear up my mess. State law might not specify where you can shoot. County laws can. City laws can be more strict than county laws.
I quoted City of Columbia in an update to my previous post. The Town of Irmo codes say this:
"It shall be unlawful to fire or discharge any firearm, air rifle, slingshot, or other device within the town which may be potentially harmful to persons or property except police officers, members of the U. S. Armed Forces, Reserve or National Guard while performing their official duties or except in the Fringe Agricultural district (FA). "
I live out where Richland County, Columbia, and Irmo have all grabbed parcels of land.
Originally Posted By Wigglesdabum:
Originally Posted By MitchbSC:
Which city?
I can apply some google-fu to see if I can find them for free.
Central SC. But I don't worry about it I just read up that you said most codes are at the county level. i guess I will call the sheriff on Monday.
http://cityofcentral.org/town-code-of-ordinance-book/
PDFs. Enjoy!
Sec. 12-3. Discharge of dangerous devices.
(a) It shall be unlawful to fire or discharge any air rifle, slingshot, or other device which
may be potentially harmful to any persons or property.
(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to discharge a firearm of any type within the town
limits. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to abridge the right of self-defense
or a law enforcement officer's performance of duty.
(Code 1979, § 11-409; Ord. of 1-12-87(2))
