South Carolina allows permit less carry for most adults, yet gun prosecutions in Columbia have not slowed down. Charges now center on who may possess a firearm and where, and The Laubshire Law Firm, LLC defends both the standalone weapon counts and the enhancements attached to other cases.
Why Choose Our Gun Charges Lawyer in Columbia, SC
Weapon cases turn on possession, knowledge, and search issues, the same ground where suppression motions win. Our founding attorney carried a badge and a firearm professionally before practicing law. That background reads clearly to Midlands juries weighing a self-defense claim or a constructive possession theory.
Who Is Ineligible for Gun Ownership in South Carolina?
Recently, open and concealed carry without a permit became legal in South Carolina. However, the same law raised the penalties for prohibited people. Felon-in-possession cases filed today carry more prison exposure than they did before the change, so legal carry for most residents made unlawful possession a sharper target rather than a softer one.
State law bars possession by anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison under S.C. Code § 16-23-500, which covers any felony, not only violent offenses. Federal law reaches further still, prohibiting possession by anyone with a felony conviction, certain domestic violence convictions, or an active protective order. Plenty of defendants had no idea they were prohibited, and that mistake alone supplies no defense.
Which Gun and Weapon Charges Are Filed Most Often?
Weapon counts in Richland County span from carrying violations to serious felonies, and several no longer require the prosecution to prove much beyond the gun itself. The same handful of charges dominates the general sessions docket, and our firm sees them in this order:
- Unlawful possession by a prohibited person
- Possession of a stolen firearm
- Carrying into schools, courthouses, and other restricted places
- Pointing and presenting a firearm
- Possession during a violent crime, which carries its own consecutive sentence
Restricted locations survived permit less carry, and posted signs still control private property throughout the state. A lawful carrier who walks through the wrong doorway commits a crime that the new law never touched, and courthouse screening catches exactly that mistake weekly.
How Do Guns Aggravate Other Criminal Charges?
A firearm transforms the case around it. Drug counts pick up weapon enhancements, an argument becomes pointing and presenting, and a burglary charge climbs a degree when a gun is present, all before anyone alleges it was fired.
Prosecutors also use the gun to argue dangerousness at bond hearings held within 24 hours of arrest. Release conditions, house arrest, and ankle monitoring often trace back to the weapon rather than the underlying charge.
Defend Your Rights with The Laubshire Law Firm
A gun charges lawyer in Columbia, SC, should treat a weapons count as a trial case rather than a plea mill file, because enhancements never negotiate themselves away. The Laubshire Law Firm answers at (803) 708-4755 by phone, email, or text, day or night, and the first consultation costs nothing. Or reach out through the Contact our firm online and expect a prompt reply.
