purposes as well as target shooting, plinking and collecting. Many of us prefer this hobby to golf or ball games. Thank you very much for hearing my side of the argument. Sincerely yours, HAL D. BEMAN, JR. APPENDIX 2 STATUTE CONCERNING FIREARMS EFFECTIVE JUNE 18, 1975 THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA SECTION 1. Section 2 of Act 330 of 1965 is amended by striking item (a) and inserting: "(a) Pistol' means any firearm designed to expel a projectile and designed to be fired from the hand, but shall not include any firearm generally recognized or classified as an antique, curiosity, or collector's item, or any that does not fire fixed cartridges." SECTION 2. Section 2 of Act 330 of 1965 is amended by adding items (g) and (h) which shall read: "(g) The term 'Division' shall mean the State Law Enforcement Division. (h) The term 'purchase' shall mean to knowingly buy, offer to buy, receive, lease, rent, barter or exchange." SECTION 3. Section 6 of Act 330 of 1965 is amended by striking it and inserting: "Section 6. The Division shall grant a license to any person doing business in the State not ineligible to purchase, acquire or possess a pistol or be licensed as a dealer under the provisions of this act. Licenses shall be issued on a form furnished by the Division and be effective for two years from the date of issuance. Licensees shall be authorized to sell pistols at retail as dealers within this State subject to the following conditions, for breach of any of which the license shall be forfeited; (a) The license or a copy thereof, authenticated by the issuing authority, shall at all times and places of sale be available for inspection or displayed where it can easily be read. (b) No pistol shall knowingly be sold in violation of any provision of this act nor shall any pistol be sold without clear evidence as to the identity of the purchaser being furnished to the dealer. (c) A true record shall be made of every pistol sold on a firearm transaction record form. The firearm transaction record form which shall be furnished by the Division shall be signed by the purchaser and by the dealer effecting the sale, each in the presence of the other and shall contain such information as may be required by the Division. A separate firearm transaction form shall be completed for each pistol sold, a copy of which must be submitted to the Division as provided in Section 5A. The dealer shall retain the records for a period of three years from the date of sale or transfer to which the records relate. (d) The fee for issuance of such licenses shall be one hundred dollars. (e) Each applicant for a license shall post with the Division a bond in favor of the State with surety in the amount of ten thousand dollars. No bond shall be accepted for filing unless it is with a surety company authorized to do business in this State and conditioned that the principal named therein shall not do any act meriting suspension or revocation of his license under provisions of this act. In lieu of a bond, a cash deposit or a deposit of other securities acceptable to the Division of a value of ten thousand dollars shall be accepted. Any person aggrieved by any act of the principal named in such bond may in an action against the principal or surety therein, or both, recover damages. The aggregate liability of the surety for all breaches of the conditions of the bond shall, in no event, exceed the amount of such bond. The surety on the bond shall have the right to cancel such bond giving thirty days' notice to the Division and thereafter shall be relieved of liability for any breach of condition after the effective date of the cancellation. (f) A breach of any of the above conditions or violations of any provisions of this act by a dealer, or the giving of false information by a licensee on an application for purchase or transfer shall result in forfeiture of license, but the licensee shall be entitled to reasonable notice and proper hearing in the circuit court of the county in which he is licensed." SECTION 4. Section 9 of Act 330 of 1965 is amended by striking it and inserting: "Section 9. Any person including a dealer violating any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a felony and upon conviction shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars or be imprisoned for not more than two years, or both. When a violation occurs within a municipality the fines collected shall be delivered to the municipality by the clerk of court. If the violation occurs outside a municipality, the fines shall be delivered to the county treasurer. Any person convicted of violating the provisions of this act, in addition to the penalty provided herein, shall have the pistol involved in such violation confiscated. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, such pistol shall be delivered to the chief of police of the municipality or to the sheriff of the county, if the violation occurred outside the corporate limits of a municipality. The law enforcement agencies that receive the confiscated pistols shall use them within their department, transfer them to another law enforcement agency or destroy them. Records shall be kept of all confiscated pistols received by the law enforcement agencies under the provisions of this act." SECTION 5. Act 330 of 1965 is amended by adding Section 5A which shall read: "Section 5A. Prior to the purchase of a pistol, the purchaser shall complete an application in triplicate in the presence of the dealer. The application to be furnished by the Division shall contain the applicant's (1) name; (2) residence and business address; (3) date and place of birth; (4) social security number; (5) South Carolina driver's license number or South Carolina Highway Department Identification Card Number; (6) physical description; (7) fingerprint card and photograph of applicant if applicant does not have items (4) and (5); (8) a signed sworn statement by the applicant that he is not within any classification set forth in items (a), (b), (c) or (d) of Section 4 of this act, and that he has not purchased a pistol within the previous thirty days; (9) the signatures of applicant and the dealer; (10) and such other personal identifying information as may be required by the Division. No person shall be allowed to purchase a pistol from a dealer unless he has fully completed the application. No person shall be allowed to purchase more than one pistol on each application and no person shall be allowed to purchase more than one pistol during each thirty-day period; provided, however, that a person whose pistol is stolen or irretrievably lost and who feels that it is essential that he immediately purchase a pistol may obtain a special permit which will enable him to purchase a pistol upon his sworn affidavit to the chief of police or his designated agent of the municipality in which the applicant resides or if the applicant resides outside the corporate limits of a municipality to the sheriff or his designated agent of the county in which the applicant resides citing these facts and reasons why he cannot wait for a thirty-day period to purchase a pistol. The special permit shall contain such information as required by the Division and shall be on a form furnished by the Division. The issuing officer shall retain a copy of the permit and forward a copy to the Division. No person shall be allowed to purchase a pistol from a dealer unless he is a resident of the State of South Carolina. For the purpose of this act, the possession of a valid South Carolina driver's license or South Carolina Highway Department Identification Card shall constitute proof of residency. Upon proper completion of the application the dealer shall submit the original application to the Division, retain a copy for his records, and give a copy to the applicant upon his purchase of a pistol. The application to be submitted to the Division must be accompanied by a firearm transaction record properly completed by the purchaser and the dealer." SECTION 6. This act shall take effect upon approval by the Governor. APPENDIX 3 METROPOLITAN ATLANTA CRIME INDEX In 1974, there were 92,353 Index Crimes in the area policed by the thirteen agencies providing data for this study compared to 81,469 in 1973. This represents a 13.4 percent increase in reported crime for the region at a minimum and perhaps larger if a complete data base were available. Violent crimes (murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) increased 19.2 percent from 1973 to 1974 while property crimes increased only 12.6 percent during the same period. The crime exhibiting the largest percentage increase was aggravated assault which increased 33.6 percent from 1973 to 1974. Contrasted with population growth we found that the region's population only grew 3.08 percent from 1973 to 1974 so that crime increases again outstripped the population increase on a percentage basis. MACC February 1975 NOTE: Rates are computed for the region on its total Atlanta, Fulton County, and DeKalb County in 1974 accounted for 85.1% of the region's murders and 85.0% of the clearances. The rate per 100,000 for murder in the region for 1974 was 21.0 which represents no change over the 1973 rate (21.0). The murder clearance rate decreased from 87.7% in 1973 to 85.7% in 1974. In 1973, there were an estimated 19,510 murders committed in the United States. The number of murders reported by agencies covered in this volume comprised 1.7% of those committed nationwide. Data for 1974 are not yet available. In 1973, there were 9.3 victims of murder for every 100,000 inhabitants in the nation. Nationally, in 1973, 79.0% of the homicides were solved; however, in 1972, 82.0% of all murders were solved. |