GEORGETOWN, S.C. — A recent ordinance change concerning guns on campus made by the Georgetown County School District may be out of synch with state law.

District spokesman Ray White said the district has received an opinion written by a senior assistant attorney general which indicates the ordinance prohibiting guns locked in a trunk or glove box of an automobile on school property “is inconsistent with and preempted by” state law.

In October, the school board approved a recommendation made by Superintendent Dr. Randy Dozier that bans concealed weapons anywhere on district property.

Currently, if someone — even with a permit to carry a concealed weapon — drives onto any district property with a gun in their vehicle, they are violating the ordinance.

Two weeks after the measure passed, board member Benny Elliott said he regrets the new ordinance.

"I made a mistake. I thought we were passing a policy like Wal-Mart, where you cannot carry a weapon in the building but you can leave them in your car," Elliott said. "I don't want to take a person's rights away."

Elliott pointed out "by the letter of the law" if a parent with a permit to carry a weapon drives on school property to pick up his or her child, that would be in violation.

Board member Arthur Lance said even with the new ordinance, he does not believe people in those situations will have to worry.

"The police will not be prosecuting people dropping off their kids," he said. "No laws will ever satisfy everybody. A campus is not a place for guns to be."

Elliott also said there are many women who drive down dark county roads at night and legally have guns in their cars for protection.

That's a point board member Eric Allen said he had not considered, so he also changed his mind.

“In light of the new opinion from the Attorney General's Office, the Board plans to review those policies when it next meets in early January 2010,” White said.

By Scott Harper

sharper@gtowntimes.com