CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Horry County Council passed second reading of an ordinance Tuesday night that will allow police to arrest and fine someone who shoots a gun in a “reckless manner”, but some don’t think the ordinance will do any good the way it’s written now.
Right now in Horry County, there are no laws limiting where or how you can shoot a gun in the county.
For months, county leaders have been feeling pressure to change that, but Solicitor Jimmy Richardson says the law close to passing now comes with challenges.
In the last several months, several people have gone before county leaders asking for more regulations because they were worried for their safety and have had damages to their homes from gunfire.
In response, county leaders passed second reading of an ordinance that would make it illegal for anyone to shoot a gun in a “reckless manner”, but council member Dennis DiSabato says that isn’t clear enough.
“I just think it’s going to be difficult for solicitors to get convictions with the way the ordinance is drafted, and if that’s the case we might as well not have an ordinance at all,” said DiSabato.
DiSabato says the law doesn’t outline what the criminal behavior would be and leaves it up to the officer to decide what is and isn’t reckless.
“I just think the standard of conduct of recklessness is going to be very difficult for people to understand if they’re in a jury and that standard is just also very difficult in my opinion for a lawyer to prove,” said DiSabato.
Solicitor Jimmy Richardson says the law describes recklessness to be a conscious failure to exercise due care, and while writing the ticket will be at the officer’s discretion, the final decision will come in the court room.
“In presenting the case, he’s going to have to put up witnesses for a jury and magistrates court of six to be able to say –they’re the ultimate people that determine whether or not it was reckless,” said Richardson.
That’s where Richardson says the real challenge is. The officer who wrote the ticket would also have to prosecute his or her own case, just like in traffic court.
“If it dealt with where the bullet actually struck a tree, the officer may be the only one out there that has gone to that scene and of course he would have a difficult time testifying because he’s the one asking the questions,” said Richardson.
The ordinance needs one more reading to pass.
Then, anyone who breaks the law could face a $500 fine and up to 30 days in jail. Richardson says that’s the max jail sentence council could give.
DiSabato says he plans to continue to push for more clarity in this ordinance for both officers and the public.
We reached out to the Horry County Police Department today to ask how officers will go about prosecuting their own cases and define recklessness.
The department’s spokesperson said “we will approach each incident on a case-by-case basis. Officers will use their discretion and act accordingly”.
