Horry County should restrict use of firearms in populated areas
Members of the Horry County Council, appropriately sensitive to citizens’ rights to own firearms as established in Amendment II to the Constitution of the United States, are quite properly looking at establishing some restrictions on firing guns in some residential neighborhoods.
People on both sides of the larger gun control issue need to take note that the County Council is addressing public safety concerns, not charging into some ill-conceived attempt to limit gun ownership. The council is looking at some restrictions on using guns in residential areas after a Pine Valley Estates resident brought to the council a concern about guns being fired too close to homes. “There’s houses all around, people could get hurt and we always got kids there,” resident William Wood told the council. He also said that the noise from discharging firearms “is really disturbing the peace.”
The council swiftly responded, directing the Public Safety Committee to study the issue. The county has no restrictions on firing guns in proximity to residential areas. County Attorney Arrigo Carotti says a proposal previously before the council – it’s not clear how long ago – failed on the initial reading and did not advance. S.C. law does prohibit shooting within 300 feet of public roads.
What is clear is the development across Horry County. Certainly, the geographically immense county still includes many acres of agriculture, but a great many former farms now have houses instead of crops. And as County Council Chairman Mark Lazarus pointed out, with all the growth, the council has not re-examined the use of firearms, until now.
A hunter, Lazarus is particularly sensitive about not offending hunters – and other gun enthusiasts. “We need to make sure we are protecting our citizens ... but we don’t want to offend Second Amendment rights.”
As with other local governance matters, the county controls unincorporated areas such as Carolina Forest or Little River, not part of municipalities (cities or towns). Residents of unincorporated neighborhoods may have Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach or Surfside Beach postal addresses, without residing in the limits of those municipalities.
The Infrastructure and Regulation Committee is looking at a public shooting range for people who wish to shoot, “so they don’t meander out into the woods – they do have a safe place to fire their weapons.” A public shooting range, carefully placed and with a focus on safety, is needed and could help control gunfire in inappropriate places.
Any restrictions on shooting at targets or whatever need not be county-wide, as Lazarus has suggested. Restrictions should apply to populated areas. “We have a lot of farm land and open land throughout Horry County that are not in subdivisions.”
Other council members, such as Johnny Vaught, share that concern. Landowners traditionally have walked their fields or woods “and be able to shoot if they want to, and we don’t want to infringe on their right to do that.”
The Public Safety Committee and the council are unlikely to propose stepping on Second Amendment rights. That clearly is unnecessary to place reasonable limits on where guns may be used in Horry County. And on this Fourth of July weekend, it’s worth noting that Second Amendment rights, like others in the Bill of Rights, are not absolute.
Second Amendment in Bill of Rights
The Declaration of Independence, celebrated on this Fourth of July holiday, announced to the world the reasons for our separation from Great Britain. The Declaration has scant mention of firearms in listing a “long Train of Abuses and Usurpations.”
The Declaration does state that the king “has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their country ...”
The right to bear arms is in Amendment II to the Constitution, approved by Congress Sept. 25, 1789, and ratified Dec. 15, 1791. Amendment II is part of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments.
This story was originally published July 2, 2016 at 9:37 AM with the headline "Horry County should restrict use of firearms in populated areas."