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South Carolina Concealed Carry Permit

South Carolina allows permitless carry for non-prohibited adults 18+. A CWP is still available and is what other states recognize.

Permitless carry is legal in South Carolina

A non-prohibited adult aged 18 or older may carry a concealed handgun without a permit (since 2024). CONFIRMED. SLED's own Constitutional Carry Guidance page states that individuals 18 and older who are not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm may carry openly or concealed "concealed without training and without a concealed weapons permit issued by SLED." Act 111 (H.3594), signed by the Governor on March 7, 2024, rewrote § 16-23-20 so that it is no longer a general carry ban; it now only lists PLACES where carry is unlawful. Section 23-31-215(O) independently confirms a permit "is not required for a person ... carrying a concealable weapon in a manner not prohibited by law." Off-limits places under § 16-23-20(A) apply whether or not you hold a permit: law enforcement, correctional or detention facilities; courthouses/courtrooms and other publicly owned buildings where court is held, while court is in session; polling places on election days; offices or business meetings of county, school district, municipal or special purpose district governing bodies; school or college athletic events not related to firearms; daycare and preschool facilities; places where federal law prohibits firearms; churches or established religious sanctuaries without permission of the appropriate official; hospitals, medical clinics, doctors' offices and other medical facilities without express authorization; another person's residence or dwelling without the occupant's express permission; and any place posted with a sign complying with § 23-31-235. Section 16-23-20(D): a person not otherwise prohibited may lawfully store a firearm anywhere in a vehicle, occupied or unoccupied. SLED also notes that officers may not stop someone solely for carrying ("Possession of a firearm alone is NOT a reason to stop an individual"), that people carrying without a CWP face enhanced penalties if they commit certain crimes while armed, and that a CWP still confers out-of-state reciprocity and eases dealer purchases.

Getting the permit anyway is still worth it for most people: other states recognize the permit, not your residency, so without one you generally cannot carry across state lines.

S.C. Code Ann. § 16-23-20, as rewritten by 2024 Act No. 111 (H.3594), § 3, eff. March 7, 2024 (South Carolina Constitutional Carry Act of 2024)

There are 7 details on this page we could not confirm from a primary source. Read what they are before relying on this.

Requirements at a glance

Permit name Concealed Weapons Permit
Issuing authority South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED)
System shall-issue
Minimum age 18 — 18 for both the CWP and permitless carry. Section 23-31-215(A) requires SLED to issue to "a resident or qualified nonresident who is at least eighteen years of age" — lowered from 21 by 2024 Act No. 111. Separately, § 16-23-30(A)(3) makes it unlawful to sell or deliver a handgun to a person under 18 (military/National Guard/ROTC and supervised-instruction exceptions). Federal law (18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(1)) still bars handgun purchase from a licensed dealer under 21; that is a federal limit, not a South Carolina one.
Training required Yes, live fire required
State fee $0 initial — the state's own charge, not the total
Valid for 5 years
Processing time Up to 90 days by statute. S.C. Code Ann. § 23-31-215(C): "SLED shall issue a written statement to an unqualified applicant specifying its reasons for denying the application within ninety days from the date the application was received; otherwise, SLED shall issue a concealable weapon permit." Actual turnaround is not published by SLED.
Fingerprints Required
Non-resident permit Available

What it actually costs

The state fee is rarely the whole bill. Fingerprinting is usually charged by a private vendor, training is bought from an instructor, and several states add photographs, notarisation or other requirements on top.

State fee $0
Fingerprinting $5–$45 — our estimate; no vendor publishes a rate
Training course $75–$250 (private instructor)
Realistic total $80–$295 — includes an estimated component

S.C. Code § 23-31-215(C) is the flattest no-fee sentence in the file — 'SLED may not charge a fee of any kind for a concealable weapon permit' — and the $50 application fee went in August 2021. That makes South Carolina the fourth state to charge nothing and the one where the bill is almost entirely private: the course is the whole of it, since the only government charge left is fingerprinting, capped at $5 under § 23-31-215(A)(6) where a law enforcement agency takes the prints. That $5 is the low end above; the high end assumes the IdentoGo route, whose price is not set by statute and not published. Renewal is genuinely unsettled, because § 23-31-215(P)(1) still recites a $50 renewal fee that subsection (C) appears to have overridden and SLED publishes no schedule either way. No training is required to carry without the permit.

Initial application: no fee. S.C. Code Ann. § 23-31-215(C) states flatly: "SLED may not charge a fee of any kind for a concealable weapon permit." The prior $50 application fee was eliminated by 2021 Act No. 66 (H.3094), eff. Aug. 15, 2021. RENEWAL IS AMBIGUOUS ON THE FACE OF THE STATUTE: § 23-31-215(P)(1) still conditions renewal on "payment of a fifty-dollar renewal fee by the applicant. This fee must be waived for disabled veterans and retired law enforcement officers" — apparently un-conformed vestigial text that conflicts with the broader no-fee sentence in subsection (C). SLED publishes no CWP fee schedule. Renewal is reported as unconfirmed rather than guessed; the likely practical answer is $0, but verify with SLED (803-896-7015 / [email protected]) before relying on it. Other statutory fees: a law enforcement agency may charge up to $5 for fingerprinting (§ 23-31-215(A)(6)); a $5 replacement fee for a lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed permit card (§ 23-31-215(L)). Third-party IdentoGo/IDEMIA fingerprinting charges are separate and not set by statute.

How to apply

  1. Confirm you are at least 18 and not prohibited under state or federal law from possessing a firearm. Note that a permit is NOT required to carry concealed in South Carolina as of March 7, 2024 — the CWP is optional and is now mainly useful for out-of-state reciprocity and for easing dealer purchases.
  2. Complete a SLED-approved handgun education course with a SLED-certified CWP instructor, including live fire of at least 25 rounds in the instructor's presence, within three years before applying. Find an instructor by county or city at https://services.sled.sc.gov/CWPInstructorsWeb/Default.aspx; SLED also runs free sponsored courses. Alternatively gather documentation of a qualifying exemption (DD-214, law enforcement academy graduation, current NRA instructor certification, competitive shooting classification, etc.).
  3. Start the application online through the SLED EasyPath portal at https://applicants.sled.sc.gov/ (new, renewal and replacement), or download the paper form at https://sled.sc.gov/sites/sled/files/CWP/CWPApplicationForm_updated03.30.2026.pdf.
  4. Schedule and attend an IdentoGo/IDEMIA appointment (https://sc.ibtfingerprint.com/?RESTART&step=CWP) to have fingerprints captured electronically and to hand in your documents; IdentoGo transmits them to SLED. Paper filers instead submit two completed and signed fingerprint cards. Renewals require no fingerprints and no new training documentation.
  5. Submit supporting documents: photocopy of your SC driver's license or photographic ID (the address must match the application), proof of residence — or, for a qualified nonresident, proof of ownership of real property in South Carolina plus the Non-Resident CWP Tax Form — proof of vision (a valid SC driver's license satisfies this), and proof of training. Disabled veterans and retired law enforcement must attach documentation of that status.
  6. Mail paper applications and renewals to: SC Law Enforcement Division (SLED), Attention CWP Renewal, PO Box 21398, Columbia, SC 29221.
  7. Wait for SLED to process. By statute SLED must issue the permit or send a written denial stating its reasons within 90 days of receipt. Questions: 803-896-7015 or [email protected].
  8. The permit is valid for five years. Renew through the same online portal or by mail with a renewal application and picture identification.

Apply on the official South Carolina site

What disqualifies you

Where to get the required training

South Carolina publishes an official list of certified instructors. That list is authoritative — a certificate from an instructor who is not on it may not be accepted. View the official instructor list

Training providers in South Carolina

Businesses in our directory that offer firearms training. These are not state-verified as certified permit instructors — check against the official list above, or ask the provider directly.

All firearms training in South Carolina →

Reciprocity

Carrying into South Carolina

South Carolina recognizes permits from 2 other jurisdictions.

Georgia, North Carolina

32 jurisdictions honor a South Carolina permit

Derived from what each of those states officially publishes.

Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Wyoming

Official South Carolina reciprocity page Full reciprocity matrix →

Building your own in South Carolina

Build for personal use
Allowed
Serial number required
No

Building a firearm for one's own use is not prohibited by South Carolina law, and South Carolina imposes no state serialization or registration requirement on a self-made firearm. Two qualifications. First, § 16-23-30(C) is drafted as a removal/obliteration offense — it reaches a handgun that HAD an "original serial number" that was taken off; it does not on its face require a serial on a firearm privately made without one. No South Carolina appellate decision squarely resolving that point could be located, so treat it as an untested reading rather than settled law. Second, state silence is not the whole picture — federal law still governs: a non-licensee may make a firearm for personal use, but not an NFA-regulated firearm without ATF approval, not one violating the Undetectable Firearms Act (18 U.S.C. § 922(p)), and not with intent to sell; ATF Final Rule 2021R-05F treats certain readily-completable frame/receiver kits as firearms requiring a licensed transfer with a serial. South Carolina's own machine gun and sawed-off shotgun/rifle restrictions (§ 16-23-210 et seq.) apply independently. Local governments cannot add rules: § 23-31-510 preempts county, municipal and other political-subdivision ordinances regulating "the transfer, ownership, possession, carrying, or transportation of firearms, ammunition, components of firearms, or any combination of these things."

No South Carolina statute on point. Title 16, Chapter 23 (Offenses Involving Weapons) and Title 23, Chapter 31 (Firearms) contain no provision addressing the manufacture of a firearm for personal use, unfinished frames or receivers, 3D-printed or "untraceable" firearms, serialization of self-made firearms, or civilian firearm registration. The only serial-number provision is S.C. Code Ann. § 16-23-30(C): "A person shall not knowingly buy, sell, transport, pawn, receive, or possess any stolen handgun or one from which the original serial number has been removed or obliterated."

Federal law, gunsmithing schools, and tools →

Statutes

What we could not confirm

  • RECIPROCITY LIST IS INCOMPLETE. § 23-31-215(N)(1) requires SLED to "maintain and publish a list" of reciprocal states, and both the SLED CWP page and the SLED Regulatory Services page say a "listing of reciprocity agreement states" is provided — but no such list, link or PDF exists anywhere findable on the live sled.sc.gov site (sitemap, site search and multiple candidate URLs all returned empty or 404; the SC Attorney General site carries nothing on CWPs either). Only GA and NC are reported, because § 23-31-215(N)(2) recognizes them automatically by statute. The full (N)(1) roster is unverified. Contact SLED at 803-896-7015 / [email protected] before publishing a longer list.
  • RENEWAL FEE IS CONTRADICTED WITHIN THE STATUTE. § 23-31-215(C) says "SLED may not charge a fee of any kind for a concealable weapon permit," while § 23-31-215(P)(1) still conditions renewal on "payment of a fifty-dollar renewal fee." The (C) language came from 2021 Act No. 66, which eliminated the application fee; (P)(1) appears not to have been conformed. SLED publishes no fee schedule and its Fines & Fees page does not itemize CWP. Reported as null rather than guessed; $0 is the likely practical answer but was not confirmable from a primary source.
  • No statutory minimum training HOURS exists — the former 8-hour floor was deleted in 2014 and SLED sets course length by regulation under § 23-31-210. The SLED CWP instructor lesson plan PDF linked from the CWP page may specify a duration, but it is a scanned/binary PDF that could not be parsed in this session. Reported as an empty hours string rather than a fabricated number.
  • Real-world SLED processing time was not obtainable; only the 90-day statutory ceiling in § 23-31-215(C) is reported.
  • Whether South Carolina law requires a serial number on a privately made firearm that never had one is an untested reading of § 16-23-30(C); no South Carolina appellate decision applying it to a never-serialized self-made firearm could be located.
  • The interaction between permitless carry and § 16-23-20(A)'s off-limits places was taken directly from the statute and SLED's guidance page; post-Act-111 South Carolina case law interpreting § 16-23-20 was not searched and may refine those boundaries.
  • The web search quota for this session was already exhausted before research began, so all sourcing was done by direct fetches of known and inferred official URLs. An official SLED or Attorney General reciprocity page may exist at a URL that was not guessed.

Sources