Is it illegal to discharge a firearm within Columbia’s city limits? Yes & no.
Following a shooting near a Planned Parenthood in Columbia Friday morning, here’s a look at a set of conflicting laws regarding the legality of discharging a firearm in public.
Except for a law enforcement official, it is illegal for anyone, under any circumstance, to fire a weapon within the city limits of Columbia, according to its code of ordinances. That restriction, however, conflicts with state law that affords an exception in cases of the defense of self, others or property.
In the end, state law prevails, which is why a Columbia man — who reportedly shot and injured another man in a parking lot near Planned Parenthood on Middleburg Drive — was not arrested but only classified as a person of interest. The man was taken to police headquarters for questioning and has not been charged with a crime.
Jenny Marshall, who works in an office across the street from where the shooting occurred, told a reporter she saw an altercation between an anti-abortion activist and a man driving a red Hyundai, who allegedly was shot. She said she later saw the anti-abortion activist being detained.
Another worker from a nearby office, who declined to give her name, said she saw a man being transported in an ambulance, who police say is currently in stable condition.
While state law does not specifically address the use of a firearm by a resident in public, it does prohibit citizens from pointing or presenting a firearm, loaded or not, at another person except in situations involving self-defense — an exception the city doesn’t recognize in its code.
State law generally provides that local governments are barred from passing laws that regulate the transfer, ownership, or possession of firearms, but not necessarily the use of those weapons.
In 2021, the city was rebuked over certain gun laws it tried to enforce, after S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson prevailed in a lawsuit against the municipality.
In the suit, Wilson argued that the city’s attempt to toughen sections of its code that would allow it to confiscate firearms from those people who have extreme risk protection orders against them, ban the possession of firearms within 1,000 feet of a public or private school and to prohibit ghost guns — homemade firearms that have no serial number — crossed the line.
As of Friday afternoon, police said they were continuing to investigate the shooting and couldn’t say whether the incident stemmed from or was connected in any way to business at Planned Parenthood.
