COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Gov. Mark Sanford has not yet decided what he'll do with a bill awaiting his signature that lowers South Carolina's minimum age to buy and sell guns from 21 to 18, spokesman Joel Sawyer said Friday.

South Carolina is one of 18 states -- and the only one in the South -- that has set 21 as the age for handgun ownership, according to the National Rifle Association. Wyoming has no handgun age requirement; in Montana, it's set at 14; in Vermont, 16, according to the NRA.

The Palmetto State has no minimum age requirement for owning rifles or shotguns.

"This is really nothing new," NRA spokeswoman Ashley Varner said. "There are plenty of states around the country that have an 18 age restriction."

State Rep. Mike Pitts filed the bill to help out a national gun wholesaler located in Lexington County where employees younger than 21 were filling gun orders over the phone -- something state Attorney General Henry McMaster said was not allowed because of their age.

"That would have meant half those employees couldn't work," the Laurens Republican said Friday.

Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court heard arguments over the constitutionality of using 21 as the age limit to possess a handgun. The justices have not yet ruled on the case.

Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, argued earlier this month during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting that 18-year-olds should be able to own guns.

"When you turn 18, you're an adult," Hutto said then. "You can do everything but drink. You can register to vote. You can go into the military. You can get credit cards. You can enter a contract."

At the time, the nation's eyes were on shooting deaths of college students in Alabama and North Carolina. "There's no reason that someone who is 21 should be able defend themselves, and someone at 18 shouldn't," Hutto said.

Pitts, a retired police officer and Army veteran, didn't mind.

"When I came home from the military, I was still under the age of 21. I could carry a firearm to defend others' rights to have one, but I couldn't own one," Pitts said.