Gun shop Columbia, South Carolina

How buying a gun in Columbia works

Pick an FFL dealer near you that accepts shipped transfers and name it at checkout. We confirm their license and ship the firearm to them. Ammunition, optics and parts ship straight to your door where South Carolina law allows.

South Carolina has no permit to purchase, no firearm registry and no state waiting period. At a licensed dealer you show photo ID, fill out ATF Form 4473 and the dealer runs a federal NICS background check; a current South Carolina concealed weapons permit is accepted by many dealers in place of that check. Federal law sets the dealer minimum at 18 for rifles and shotguns and 21 for handguns, and state law bars handing a handgun to anyone under 18. Private sales between residents need no state background check, but selling to a person you know cannot legally own a gun is a crime.

Dealers in these communities all work for Columbia-area buyers:

• Cayce
• West Columbia
• Irmo
• Forest Acres
• Blythewood
• Eastover
• Hopkins
• Gaston
• Chapin
• Elgin

Carrying a gun in Richland County

Since the Constitutional Carry Act took effect on March 7, 2024, anyone 18 or older who may lawfully possess a firearm can carry it openly or concealed in South Carolina without a permit, and may store a firearm anywhere in a vehicle. SLED still issues the concealed weapons permit, and many people keep one for reciprocity in other states and for quicker dealer purchases. Carry stays barred in schools, courthouses, polling places, detention facilities, daycares, hospitals and doctors' offices, government meetings, places of worship without permission and any property posted with a compliant sign.

Hunting near Columbia

South Carolina is split into four game zones. The Midlands and the Lowcountry sit in Game Zone 3, where deer season on private land runs August 15 to January 1, archery and guns are both legal from opening day, and it is bucks only until September 14. Game Zone 4 in the Pee Dee opens to guns September 1. Game Zones 1 and 2 in the Upstate run archery September 15-30, primitive weapons October 1-10 and guns October 11 to January 1. Any legal firearm may be used for deer, every deer must be tagged, and the harvest goes into SC Game Check by midnight.

Richland County is in Game Zone 3, where private-land deer season runs August 15 to January 1 and stays bucks only until September 14. The Congaree and Wateree river bottoms hold whitetails and feral hogs, and SCDNR's Wateree Range and State Shooting Complex are both at Eastover, half an hour southeast of downtown.

Lake Murray backs up behind its dam on the northwest edge, Congaree National Park protects old-growth floodplain forest half an hour southeast, and Harbison State Forest keeps working woods inside the city limits.

Public shooting ranges near Columbia

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources runs a small set of public ranges, most of them free and open Tuesday through Saturday, and the U.S. Forest Service keeps unsupervised rifle ranges on the Sumter and Francis Marion national forests. Forest Service ranges on the Enoree and Long Cane districts need a daily or annual range pass for each shooter 16 and older, and hours at every range change with scheduled hunts and holidays.