What your safety team or pastor needs to know about firearms law, licensed guards vs. volunteers, and handling a disruptive visitor.
A South Carolina congregation can build a lawful armed security program, but state law puts the church's own governing body in the driver's seat before any firearm comes through the door. Before standing up a safety team, leadership needs to document who has permission to carry, understand the difference between an in-house volunteer team and a licensed outside security company, and know how to legally remove a disruptive person.
South Carolina law restricts carrying a firearm into a church or other established religious sanctuary. Under S.C. Code § 16-23-20(A)(8), that restriction lifts only when the appropriate church official or governing body gives express permission, whether the firearm is carried openly or concealed. In practice, the congregation's leadership must formally authorize who may carry and where, and most churches put that authorization in writing.
A congregation can hire a licensed South Carolina security company, whose guards and agency must be licensed through SLED under S.C. Code § 40-18-110, giving the church a vetted, state-regulated provider. Or it can organize its own unpaid volunteer safety team, which is not a licensed security business and instead operates purely on the church's own § 16-23-20(A)(8) permission and whatever training and screening standards the church sets for itself.
Most safety incidents at a church never involve a firearm at all. South Carolina's trespass-after-warning statute, S.C. Code § 16-11-620, lets a church representative or authorized safety team member lawfully warn a person to leave the premises; if that person refuses or returns without permission after being warned, they are committing a criminal offense.
Yes. There is no separate state license required just to have an armed congregant on a volunteer safety team. The church's own governing body authorizing the carry under S.C. Code § 16-23-20(A)(8) is what makes it lawful, though a church that hires outside guards still needs those guards to hold a SLED license under § 40-18-110.
The statute only requires express permission, which does not have to be in writing, but most churches document it anyway to protect the congregation and clarify exactly who is covered, when, and under what conditions.
Tell us about your congregation and we’ll help you design a program that fits.
Request a Consultation