Some Berkeley County residents are up in arms over a firearms ordinance they said County Council members passed earlier this month without them knowing. But council members have refuted the argument.
The ordinance makes it illegal to discharge firearms—BB and airsoft-style guns exempt—in Berkeley County Club Estates and nearby Barons Retreat subdivision. Both residential areas are located in Council Vice Chairman Jack Schurlknight’s territory, District 6.
Schurlknight
At least two residents addressed Council members at an Aug. 27 meeting in Moncks Corner. They each voiced the same concern—that they were told council would discuss the ordinance at that meeting and were shocked to learn members had actually passed it a week earlier, during a special-called Aug. 13 council meeting.
“I believe residents were misled and improperly notified,” said Kevin Davidson. “This passed in darkness. …I came here tonight because the truth must come out.”
According to the county’s Public Information Officer Hannah Moldenhauer, council members had previously passed two readings of the ordinance and held a public hearing in May. She said the county followed proper protocol by advertising the hearing ahead of time and that Aug. 13 was the third and final reading.
Shurlknight further explained the council’s notification process. He said the item was made public on Aug. 8 for the Aug. 13 meeting—the law requires at least a 24-hour notice—and that residents who said at the Aug. 27 meeting that they thought the council was conducting business secretively by moving ahead the third reading “really didn’t understand what was going on.”
Schurlknight did admit to the Berkeley Independent that he initially told residents at a previous neighborhood meeting that the council might have the final reading on Aug. 27—but that the date wasn’t set in stone.
“I told them it would be the first meeting after the Public Justice and Safety Committee, and ‘as of right now it’s the 27th, but that can change,’” Schurlknight said, “and we called a special called-meeting on the 13th, and it was put on the agenda and everybody was notified.”
But the date change isn’t the only issue residents have with the shooting restriction. They said it disregards their Constitutional rights.
“This law passed…subverts the primary most core principle of the U.S. Constitution,” said Ted Cox.
Councilman Tommy Newell explained council members’ opposite intention—and how the ordinance is a much-needed safety precaution.
“It’s in no way shape or form trying to limit anybody’s Second Amendment rights,” he said. “It’s kind of ridiculous that we have to legislate common sense. You cannot target practice in your backyard on your property. I mean do you really want somebody shooting a 25-caliber bullet...while your children are playing in a backyard nearby?”
Newell
Schurlknight reinforced the safety aspect.
“What we’re after is people getting in their backyards and discharging firearms on half-acre lots at 1 a.m.,” he said.
Newell said the ordinance doesn’t stop the execution of a law enforcement or military person’s duty or the firing of a gun in self-defense against a home intruder—even wildlife.
“Now if you have a snake or coyote on your property trying to attack you, then by all means you have to defend yourself,” he said. “They’re not going to stop you from doing that.”
Cox also questioned why the ordinance covers “just my friends and neighbors” and doesn’t include “everybody in the county.”
Schurlknight said the county is “taking it case-by-case” when it comes to shooting constraints and that council members aren’t currently in favor of applying the law across the county’s entire unincorporated area. He also said residents were made well aware of the ordinance and what it entailed—he and Berkeley County Sheriff Duane Lewis meeting in the neighborhoods after work hours on at least three different occasions.
“We really bent over backwards to try and explain,” Schurlknight said. “The sheriff needed an ordinance with some teeth so he could go in and enforce (the law).”
The county passed a similar ordinance in 2016 pertaining strictly to Sangaree Special Tax District, after a school there was placed on lockdown due to nearby target practice, according to Newell.
“I created the ordinance through the NRA for Sangaree because somebody would target practice, and it would shut the schools down,” Newell said.
Council members said the county also offers plenty of places to legally shoot firearms.
“There’s a firing range down the street and other free ones locally,” Newell said.
In March Dorchester County Council members attempted to propose a similar ordinance to prohibit the discharge of firearms in unincorporated areas, but the issue ignited flared tempers on both sides of the issue; and council members have yet to return to the topic.
