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Residents ask Beaufort County to modernize firearms-discharge rules after bullets strike a Bluffton-area home
Summary
Residents from Lakes of New Riverside urged the county to draft a new firearms-discharge ordinance after repeated rounds were reported near homes and a bus-stop mailbox; deputies and county counsel said state felony law exists but enforcement is challenging without clearer standards and evidence.
Residents of the Lakes of New Riverside neighborhood told the Beaufort County Public Facilities Committee they are living under an ongoing safety threat from repeated firearm discharges on a nearby rural property and asked the county to modernize its firearms-discharge ordinance.
Jeremy (speaker 17), who organized neighborhood documentation, said residents have recorded gunfire that he and other trained witnesses contend passed over homes and produced audible supersonic 'buzz' sounds. He urged the committee to advance a modernization initiative for county ordinance language and requested interim enforcement guidance so deputies would apply the state statute in the meantime.
"This is how we reached more than a 118 signatures... The urgency is real and the danger is present," Jeremy told the committee, asking the county to move the draft to full council and for legal staff and the sheriff’s office to form a working group on an ordinance modernization timetable.
Resident Rosemarie Hughes described children waiting at a mailbox kiosk that she said lies in the downrange path from the shooter. Her 7th-grade daughter, Lila, told the committee she is frightened to use the family’s yard and asked officials to prioritize child safety.
Sheriff’s Office counsel Justin Wetzel and Major/Chief deputy representatives told the committee there are existing state criminal statutes that can apply — including the state felony for firing at or into an occupied dwelling (referred to in the public presentation as S.C. Code §16-23-4440) — but they explained practical enforcement limits. Wetzel said criminal prosecution under that statute requires showing an unlawful act, proving intent or recklessness (mens rea), and identifying the shooter; the evidence in some past incidents has been insufficient to sustain felony charges.
Major/Chief deputy representatives said deputies have responded to calls, found shell casings and have interviewed witnesses, but enforcement is hampered when shooting stops before officers arrive. They offered to help shape ordinance language that is enforceable and to collaborate on prosecution feasibility. Staff and several council members urged coordination with Bluffton police, the school board and municipal counsel when drafting any county ordinance.
Committee members directed county administration to convene the county attorney’s office and the sheriff’s office to work on a draft and to consult affected municipalities and stakeholders; several members noted the county’s procedural rules mean an ordinance would likely take several committee and council readings and public hearings, placing a realistic timeframe into early the next year. Staff was also asked to provide interim enforcement clarifications to law enforcement while the ordinance is drafted.
The committee did not vote on an ordinance; it instructed staff and the sheriff’s office to begin collaborative drafting and to return with a proposed timetable and interim enforcement guidance.
