YORK COUNTY, South Carolina — A senator representing Lancaster and York Counties has introduced a proposal that could change how guns are bought and sold in South Carolina.
Under current law, if a retailer doesn't get a background check back in three days, the seller gets to decide whether to complete the sale. Sen. Chauncey "Greg" Gregory is one of two lawmakers who want to extend that window to five days and says the bill would also shorten the time limit when police and the courts report to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
“The most important aspect of this bill, however, is that it would shorten the time that SC courts and police have to report to SLED (state police) the names of people that have been charged or convicted of crimes (such as CDV) that prohibit them from buying a weapon. Currently that is 30 days. The bill would shorten it to 3 days thereby elimination a long window of opportunity for a violent person to legally buy a weapon.”
According to Gregory, about 90 percent of gun sale background checks are approved and processed quickly. Another two or three percent are quickly denied, leaving seven or eight percent that require further investigation into the buyer by the NICS. If those checks aren't completed within 72 hours, the seller can choose to go through with a transaction anyway.
"Typically, there is something in the system that flags the buyer that requires more investigation by NICS," said Sen. Gregory. "If they can't get it done within 72 hours, then the decision belongs to the sun seller."
The bill is currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which hopes to have a hearing in the next couple of weeks.