I could have titled this “South Carolina Attorney General Versus Columbia On Everything,” and it would have been just about right.

First off, while I don’t think we discussed it, S.C. AG Alan Wilson won against Columbia over gun rights restrictions a few months ago (May 2021).

The Court of Common Pleas has agreed with South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and ruled that three local gun ordinances passed by the City of Columbia violate state law. AG Wilson sued the city in April 2020, arguing that state law specifically says local governments cannot pass gun ordinances that are stricter than state law.

“We’ve said for three decades now that state law doesn’t allow cities, towns or counties to regulate firearms, so we appreciate the judge’s ruling,” Attorney General Wilson said. “These Columbia ordinances clearly violate the state law that prohibits local governments from passing any gun laws or ordinances that regulate the transfer, ownership, or possession of firearms.”

In 2015, the City of Columbia was first advised by this office that local gun ordinances are preempted by state law. Since that time, the City has continued to pass similar ordinances. One of Columbia’s ordinances would allow the city to confiscate firearms from those people who have Extreme Risk Protection Orders against them. Another ordinance bans the possession of firearms within 1000 feet of a public or private school. A third ordinance prohibits homemade firearms which have no serial number, known as ghost guns.

Next up, mask mandates.

In the latest of several such legal cases across a nation where cultural and political clashes have erupted over the COVID-19 response, the court ruled 5-0 to issue a declaratory judgment for South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who brought the case against the city of Columbia.

Wilson, a Republican, argued a state law that allows parents to decide whether their children wear masks in school trumps the city’s mask mandate ordinance for private and public elementary and middle school students and staff.

The emergency school mask ordinance, brought by Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin in response to the surge in infections, had been approved by the city council in Columbia two weeks ago. The ordinance, which also applied to daycare centers, was aimed at children too young to be vaccinated.

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said in a tweet https://twitter.com/henrymcmaster/status/1433511028327915521 that the court had come to “a sound conclusion” based on the rule of law.

“A parent’s right to decide what’s best for their child is now definitively protected by state law,” he said, while encouraging residents to get vaccinated.

Benjamin, a Democrat, said in a statement that the city “will always act to preserve and protect the lives, health and safety of our children. This is a sad day for children in South Carolina.”

They want to be their own little country down there in Columbia, yes?  What happened that those folks would decide to give themselves such petty tyrants on the city council and for mayor?

Sounds like it’s time for a reckoning in the state capital.