Are guns allowed on the beach? Myrtle Beach, SC gun laws you should know

A Saturday night shooting in downtown Myrtle Beach left one person dead, 11 more injured and the community in shock. The shots were fired on the 900 block of North Ocean Boulevard, outside Ripley’s Believe it or Not!

Myrtle Beach Police shot at a person firing a gun shortly before midnight on April 26, a witness told The Sun News. Horry County Coroner Tamara Willard identified the deceased as 18-year-old Jerrius David.

In South Carolina adults can carry a firearm without a permit and in Myrtle Beach guns are typically permitted in public spaces. Here’s what out-of-town visitors should know about who can carry a gun and where firearms are permitted in Myrtle Beach.

Who can carry a firearm?

Under South Carolina law, adults 18 years and older can carry firearms without a permit.

However, state law prohibits people who have been committed to a mental institution or adjudicated as a mental defective from possessing, receiving, shipping or transporting firearms or ammunition.

Additionally, federal law bans firearm possession for convicted felons, fugitives, unlawful controlled substance users, unlawful aliens and aliens on non-immigrant visas, people who have renounced their citizenship, people who were dishonorably discharged from the armed forces, people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence and people subject to restraining orders for harassing, stalking or threatening an intimate partner or their child.

Where are firearms permitted?

While the city prohibits open and concealed carry of most deadly weapons in public places, firearms are the exception. That means guns are allowed on streets, the boardwalk, parks and, yes, the beach.

It’s important to note that the Myrtle Beach Code of Ordinances prohibits carrying a firearm or ammunition at protests and demonstrations. However, the city manager or designee does have the power to modify or outright waive the ban.

While carrying a firearm is generally legal, discharging the weapon often is not. According to the code, “it shall be unlawful for any person to discharge or cause to be discharged any firearm of any kind or nature or any air rifle or slingshot at any place within the city.”

However, the Code of Ordinances carves out exceptions for permitted businesses like gun clubs and shooting ranges, law enforcement, permitted special events and people using a gun for protection on land they own that’s at least 25 contiguous acres.

It’s also illegal to brandish a deadly weapon in Myrtle Beach, so waving a gun “menacingly” or displaying a firearm “ostentatiously, threateningly, angrily or aggressively” isn’t permitted.

This story was originally published April 29, 2025 at 1:20 PM.