South Carolina has weak gun laws—missing the vast majority of the 50 key policies—and suffers one of the highest rates of gun homicides in the nation. Despite lending the name of its largest city to the gap in federal law that allows gun sales to go through while a background check is still underway, South Carolina has still not closed the Charleston Loophole that armed the mass shooter who attacked worshipers at the Emanuel AME Church in 2015. Lawmakers in 2024 repealed the state’s concealed carry permit requirement, allowing people to carry loaded firearms in public with no training or background check.