COLUMBIA, S.C. – Today, gun safety advocates and gun violence survivors with the South Carolina chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network, took to the statehouse to demand more action from their lawmakers on South Carolina’s gun violence crisis. Joined by gun sense lawmakers, law enforcement, and community partners, attendees rallied behind a call to strengthen the state’s gun safety laws by passing a measure to close the Charleston loophole, which allows gun purchases to move forward by default after three business days — even if a background check has not been completed.
“With the ten-year mark of the worst mass shooting in South Carolina’s history only a few months away, we’re here to make it especially loud and clear that the time is long overdue that our lawmakers close the Charleston Loophole,” said Kristen Moldenhauer, a volunteer with the South Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We can all agree that if you can’t pass a background check, you shouldn’t be able to access a gun – regardless of whether it takes longer than three days. It’s time for our lawmakers to take common sense steps to save lives, before more families are torn apart.”
“Lawmakers are leaving the door wide open for history to repeat itself after years of failing to close the Charleston Loophole,” said Piper Kennedy, a volunteer leader with the Beaufort High School Students Demand Action chapter. “Gun violence is the number one killer of young people in South Carolina and my generation refuses to go on like this. We refuse to become another statistic.”
Today’s rally comes just one month after volunteers joined members from Mother Emanuel Church and gun violence survivors in Charleston to mark the 10th year since the shooting at Mother Emanuel Church where nine Black parishioners were murdered during a Bible study by a white supremacist. Gun safety advocates will continue to fight to close the Charleston loophole in honor of those who were taken in the mass shooting at Mother Emanuel Church and those who are shot and killed or injured every day across South Carolina. By ensuring that prospective gun owners pass a background check before obtaining a firearm and closing the Charleston Loophole, this law can help keep guns away from criminals, domestic abusers and others who could be a danger to themselves or others, saving lives.
South Carolina is missing most foundational gun safety laws and, as a result, has the 12th-highest rate of gun deaths in the U.S. In an average year, 1,081 people are killed by guns in the state, a 24% increase from 2014 to 2023. Gun violence costs South Carolina around $14.0 billion each year.