South Carolina Pepper Spray and Stun Gun Laws (2026)

South Carolina writes its pepper spray rule backward from most states: possession is illegal by default, and a self-defense exception with a capacity cap, about 1.69 fluid ounces, makes it lawful. A second statute outside the weapons chapter makes throwing or placing a tear-gas device near a store, theater, or residence a felony. Stun guns get no possession statute at all, only a felony for taking one away from a police or corrections officer, and South Carolina repealed its general concealed-weapons offense in 2024.

Jurisdiction scope: This page covers South Carolina state law only, principally S.C. Code Sections 16-7-160, 16-23-405, 16-23-415, 16-23-430, 16-23-460, 16-23-470, 16-23-495, 23-31-210, 23-31-215, and 23-31-510. It does not cover South Carolina's separate concealable-weapons-permit application and licensing procedures (Title 23, Chapter 31, Article 4) beyond the definitions and no-permit-required provisions discussed below.

Is pepper spray legal to carry in South Carolina?

Yes, but South Carolina frames the rule as an exception to a ban rather than a straightforward legalization, and a separate statute reaches how it is used near people and buildings. S.C. Code Section 16-23-470(A) states: "It is unlawful for anyone except an authorized law enforcement officer to possess, use, transport, sell, or buy a tear-gas machine or gun, or its parts, or any ammunition, shells, or equipment that may be used in a tear-gas gun or machine." The same subsection immediately carves out ordinary self-defense use: "It is lawful for a person for self-defense purposes only to possess, use, transport, sell, or buy a tear-gas machine or gun, or its parts, or ammunition, shells, or equipment for a tear-gas machine or gun, but the capacity of a tear-gas cartridge, shell, or container shall not exceed fifty cubic centimeters nor shall a tear-gas machine or gun have the capability of shooting a cartridge, shell, or container of more than fifty cubic centimeters." Fifty cubic centimeters is 50 milliliters, about 1.69 fluid ounces. That is a real, textual capacity limit, both on the container and on the device itself, not a suggestion: a common 2, 3, or 4 fl. oz. retail canister, and any bear spray (typically 7.9 to 9.0 fl. oz.), exceeds it, while a small keychain canister of roughly 0.5 to 0.75 fl. oz. does not.

Neither Section 16-23-470 nor any other provision in Title 16, Chapter 23 defines "tear-gas machine or gun" or separately names oleoresin capsicum, the active ingredient in most retail pepper spray. South Carolina's statute does not draw the CN/CS-tear-gas-versus-OC-pepper-spray distinction that some other states' statutes spell out explicitly; the self-defense exception's plain words cover a "tear-gas machine or gun" generally, without a separate pepper-spray-specific definition to confirm or exclude an ordinary OC canister. Subsection (C) separately allows tear gas to be purchased, sold, transported, or used for killing insects or rodents, outside a tear-gas-gun-style container, with written county-agent authorization, a narrow agricultural carve-out unrelated to self-defense.

A person who violates Section 16-23-470, by possessing a tear-gas device outside the self-defense exception or exceeding its 50cc cap, commits a misdemeanor punishable by up to three years of imprisonment or a fine of up to $5,000, or both.

South Carolina's Concealable Weapons Permit Act, in Title 23, Chapter 31, separately confirms that carrying pepper spray needs no permit. Section 23-31-215(O)(1) states that "a permit issued pursuant to this article is not required for a person: (a) carrying a self-defense device generally considered to be nonlethal including the substance commonly referred to as 'pepper gas'; or (b) carrying a concealable weapon in a manner not prohibited by law." That is South Carolina's own statutory label for the product this section describes, and it is the direct answer to whether a permit is required: it is not.

A second statute, outside Title 16, Chapter 23 entirely, reaches how a tear-gas or pepper-spray device is used rather than possessed. S.C. Code Section 16-7-160 makes it unlawful for a person other than an on-duty peace officer "to place or throw a stink bomb, tear-gas bomb, smoke bomb, or similar device which contains foul or offensive odors, may inflict injury, or cause fear sufficient to incite a riot or conditions of panic in or in close proximity to a public building, storehouse, theater, stadium, arena, motion picture theater, private residence, boardinghouse, or other building or structure where people lodge, congregate, or reside." "Tear-gas bomb" is named directly, and "or similar device" is an open clause, so an ordinary pepper spray canister deployed inside or near one of those places falls within its plain words. A first violation is a misdemeanor, up to three years or a $3,000 fine, or both; it becomes a felony, up to ten years or a $10,000 fine, or both, if the person causes serious bodily harm or injury. Whether a handheld canister counts as "placed or thrown" in a given encounter is a question of fact this statute's text does not resolve on its own, but the scenario a reader most worries about, spraying an attacker inside a store, theater, or apartment building, is squarely what this section describes.

Are stun guns legal to carry in South Carolina?

Effectively unregulated, in the sense that no South Carolina statute restricts ordinary civilian stun-gun possession, and concealed carry is now part of that answer too. Title 16, Chapter 23, South Carolina's weapons chapter, does not contain a dedicated stun-gun possession statute, and Title 23, Chapter 31's Concealable Weapons Permit Act's own definitions section, Section 23-31-210(5), defines "concealable weapon" as "a firearm having a length of less than twelve inches," a firearm-specific term that has nothing to do with an electronic device. But that same chapter separately names a "self-defense device generally considered to be nonlethal," the category a stun gun falls into: Section 23-31-215(O)(1) states that "a permit issued pursuant to this article is not required for a person: (a) carrying a self-defense device generally considered to be nonlethal including the substance commonly referred to as 'pepper gas'; or (b) carrying a concealable weapon in a manner not prohibited by law." A stun gun would ordinarily be described the same way, as a "self-defense device generally considered to be nonlethal," though the statute names only pepper gas as its example. In substance, nothing turns on that inference: a permit under the article is required only for a "concealable weapon," which Section 23-31-210(5) limits to a firearm, so no permit provision reaches a stun gun in the first place. South Carolina's former general concealed-weapons statute, Section 16-23-460, "Carrying concealed weapons; forfeiture of weapons," was the one provision that plausibly reached concealed carry of a non-firearm weapon such as a stun gun. It was repealed effective March 7, 2024 by 2024 Act No. 111, the South Carolina Constitutional Carry/Second Amendment Preservation Act, and nothing replaced it as a standalone concealed-carry offense. The same act added Section 16-23-495, "Concealable weapon offense," but that section is a consecutive sentencing enhancement, not a carrying offense: it applies only when a person is convicted of a separate crime involving "a concealable weapon, as defined by Section 23-31-210(5)," the same firearm-only definition, charged as its own count alongside that underlying crime, adding up to three years served consecutively. It does not fill the gap for a stun gun, and after the 2024 repeal there is no general concealed-weapon offense in South Carolina at all.

The only place South Carolina law mentions a stun gun by name is S.C. Code Section 16-23-415, and it runs in the opposite direction from a possession restriction. It makes it a felony for "an individual who takes a firearm, stun gun, or taser device from the person of a law enforcement officer or a corrections officer," "guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned for not more than five years, or fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both," but only "if all of the following circumstances exist at the time the firearm is taken": the individual knows or has reason to believe the person is a law enforcement or corrections officer; the officer is performing official duties, or the taking is directly related to those professional responsibilities; the individual takes the weapon without the officer's consent; the officer is authorized by the employer to carry the weapon in the line of duty; and "the law enforcement officer or corrections officer is authorized by his employer to carry the weapon while off duty and has identified himself as a law enforcement officer." All five conditions must be present. That statute protects officers from having their equipment taken, and says nothing about an ordinary civilian buying, owning, or carrying a stun gun. No South Carolina statute sets an age minimum, a permit requirement, or a prohibited-persons rule specific to civilian stun-gun possession.

Where you can't carry either device

South Carolina's school-property weapons statute, S.C. Code Section 16-23-430(A), makes it unlawful, with exceptions for law enforcement and school-authorized personnel, to carry on elementary or secondary school property "a knife, with a blade over two inches long, a blackjack, a metal pipe or pole, firearms, or any other type of weapon, device, or object which may be used to inflict bodily injury or death." That catchall echoes S.C. Code Section 16-23-405(A), which defines "weapon" for the whole chapter: "Except for the provisions relating to rifles and shotguns in Section 16-23-460, as used in this chapter, 'weapon' means firearm (rifle, shotgun, pistol, or similar device that propels a projectile through the energy of an explosive), a blackjack, a metal pipe or pole, or any other type of device, or object which may be used to inflict bodily injury or death." Section 16-23-460, the rifle-and-shotgun provision this definition still cross-references, was repealed in 2024 (see below), which the statute's own Editor's Note flags without changing the definition's operative text. South Carolina's Court of Appeals has construed this catchall directly. In re Thomas Edward D., 344 S.C. 329, 543 S.E.2d 578 (Ct. App. 2001), explains that unlike a firearm, a knife with a blade over two inches, a blackjack, or a metal pipe or pole, which are per se violations regardless of use, "it is 'any other type of device or object' that must be capable of inflicting bodily injury or death." In the Interest of Dave G., 324 S.C. 347, 477 S.E.2d 470 (Ct. App. 1996), applied that test to a roughly one-inch razor blade the officer described as used "for cutting paper, opening boxes," and affirmed the adjudication. So the operative test is capability, not design or intended use: pepper spray and a stun gun are both capable of inflicting bodily injury, so both fit the catchall's plain text under the standard South Carolina's own courts apply. A violation of Section 16-23-430 is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 or up to five years of imprisonment, or both, with the weapon subject to confiscation.

Section 16-23-430(B)'s vehicle exception applies "when the weapon remains inside an attended or locked motor vehicle and is secured in a closed glove compartment, closed console, closed trunk, or in a closed container secured by an integral fastener and transported in the luggage compartment of the vehicle." The vehicle itself must be attended or locked; the compartment or container inside it must be closed, not necessarily separately locked. A 2024 amendment, part of the South Carolina Constitutional Carry/Second Amendment Preservation Act, removed a prior reference exempting people licensed to carry a concealed weapon under Title 23, Chapter 31, Article 4 from this subsection; because that permit article is defined around firearms specifically, the change does not affect how Section 16-23-430 treats pepper spray or a stun gun.

The same 2024 act that amended subsection (B), at a different section, repealed the general concealed-weapons offense discussed above under stun guns (Section 16-23-460), so outside a school and the tear-gas-specific rules already covered, no current South Carolina statute makes concealed carry of pepper spray or a stun gun a crime.

Local ordinances and state preemption

S.C. Code Section 23-31-510 states that no county, municipality, or other political subdivision "may enact or promulgate any regulation or ordinance that regulates or attempts to regulate ... the transfer, ownership, possession, carrying, or transportation of firearms, ammunition, components of firearms, or any combination of these things." That preemption is scoped to firearms and ammunition; it does not mention tear gas, pepper spray, or stun guns anywhere in its text. A South Carolina county or municipality is therefore not state-blocked from adopting its own ordinance regulating pepper spray or stun guns, unlike the firearms Section 23-31-510 reserves to the state.

Federal law: what it does and does not reach

No federal statute regulates a civilian's purchase or possession of pepper spray or a stun gun. Federal law matters in three places.

Federal buildings. Under 18 U.S.C. § 930(a), whoever knowingly possesses or causes to be present "a firearm or other dangerous weapon in a Federal facility (other than a Federal court facility)" faces a fine, imprisonment of up to 1 year, or both. Subsection (e) sets up to 2 years for a federal court facility, and subsection (b) up to 5 years where the weapon is intended to be used in a crime. Section 930(g)(2) defines the term:

The term "dangerous weapon" means a weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance, animate or inanimate, that is used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious bodily injury, except that such term does not include a pocket knife with a blade of less than 2½ inches in length.

The definition names neither device. Whether a particular spray or stun gun is "readily capable of" causing serious bodily injury is a question of fact the statute does not answer. Subsection (d)(3) exempts "the lawful carrying of firearms or other dangerous weapons in a Federal facility incident to hunting or other lawful purposes," and subsection (h) requires notice of the ban to be posted at each public entrance. A "Federal facility" is "a building or part thereof owned or leased by the Federal Government, where Federal employees are regularly present for the purpose of performing their official duties."

Air travel. The Transportation Security Administration's screening rules, which are agency policy rather than statute, bar both devices from carry-on bags. One 4 fl. oz. (118 ml) container of mace or pepper spray is permitted in checked baggage if it has a safety mechanism to prevent accidental discharge, and sprays containing more than 2 percent by mass of tear gas (CS or CN) are prohibited in checked baggage. Tasers, stun guns and other electro-shock weapons may travel in checked baggage only if transported so the device cannot discharge accidentally. Airlines may set stricter rules.

National parks. National Park Service regulations prohibit possessing, carrying or using a "weapon" in a park area except as the regulations provide (36 CFR 2.4(b)(1)). 36 CFR 1.4 defines "weapon" to include an "irritant gas device" and any "weapon the possession of which is prohibited under the laws of the State in which the park area or portion thereof is located."

Disclaimer: This article provides general legal information about South Carolina's pepper spray and stun gun laws as of September 2026. It is not legal advice. Consult a lawyer licensed in South Carolina for advice about a specific situation.

For a state-by-state comparison, see pepper spray and stun gun laws by state. South Carolina's self-defense statutes are covered separately on the South Carolina self-defense laws page.

Statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-09-18. Last updated: 2026-09-18.