Handing Over A Firearm
S.C. Code 16-23-30 — knowingly selling or delivering a handgun to someone on the list
Knowingly, to a person on the list. It is unlawful for a person to knowingly sell, offer to sell, deliver, lease, rent, barter, exchange or transport for sale into South Carolina any handgun to a person the section lists: someone convicted of a crime of violence, a fugitive from justice, a habitual drunkard, a drug addict, a person adjudicated mentally incompetent, a member of a subversive organization, a person under eighteen, or a person a judge has adjudged unfit to carry or possess a firearm.
The bar on handing a handgun to someone under eighteen does not apply to issuing handguns to members of the armed forces, the National Guard, the State Militia or R.O.T.C. on duty or in training, or to the temporary loan of a handgun for instruction under the immediate supervision of a parent or adult instructor.
A person may not knowingly buy, sell, transport, pawn, receive or possess a stolen handgun, or one whose original serial number has been removed or obliterated. Under the article's definitions, to purchase or sell includes to knowingly buy, offer to buy, receive, lease, rent, barter, exchange, pawn or accept in pawn.
A violation is a felony carrying a fine of up to $2,000 or up to five years, or both, and the handgun is confiscated. This page covers handguns under the state article; rifles and shotguns, dealers' duties and federal background checks are not on it. Whether a particular sale or loan was lawful is a question for a licensed South Carolina attorney.
Sources for this section (3)
- S.C. Code 16-23-30 — Sale or delivery of handgun to and possession by certain persons unlawful
- S.C. Code 16-23-50 — Penalties; disposition of fines; forfeiture and disposition of handguns
- S.C. Code 16-23-10 — Definitions
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed South Carolina attorney.