I'm from Greenville, and I'm now living in Pauline (near Spartanburg) and Easley different parts of the week.
Why so many from SC? I think it's because we live in such a rabid anti-gun state. Oppression seems to make us seek-out others for support. When I lived in Madison, Wisconsin, the local media presented gun owners in a much different light. Heck, they even covered a local militia weekend training camp (oversaw by three marine officers on leave) in a positive light. That makes me want to spend my summers there. Now, I work as a driver for a armored car company, so I'm around a lot of wannabe and former (read, fired) police officers that are very vocal against the private ownership of handguns. Other than to a few select people at work, I haven't mentioned gun ownership. I've seen a couple of guys fired for hunting, so I keep my mouth shut. My wife, a dignified looking woman in her 60's, was stopped by SCHP less than a month ago, and held for over four hours because the officer saw a target in her hatchback so they could have an animal tear-up and soil our car. Her crime? Crossing the centerline twice.
About cheap FFL's in SC question: I don't know about around Charleston, but in Simpsonville Jack'Sons Guns is a very professional shop that will do transfers for $25. Their web page is at [url]http://www.jacksonsguns.com/[/url]. In Spartanburg on Asheville Hwy there's a pawn shop called Hilltop that will do transfers for $12. As of two weeks ago, they had three Taurus revolvers in 38 special for less than $150. As an added bonus, one of the nicest knife shops in existence is down the street from them, Odom Ace Hardware. They have a great collection of Spyderco, CS, CRKT, Benchmade, and Microtech (just to list a few). Most of the prices are about the same as mail order, if you include shipping, plus you can inspect before you buy.