Fashion police: South Carolina lawmakers want to fine people for wearing 'sagging' trousers

While high school students protest across the US against lawmakers they say aren't doing enough to tackle gun violence, some members of the South Carolina state legislature think they have much more pressing issues: saggy trousers.

Currently making its way through the state's House of Representatives, the bill asks for laws to be amended to make it illegal "for a person to wear pants sagging more than three inches below his ileum".

The ileum is part of the small intestine generally around the hips area.

Anyone wearing looser-fitting trousers should be sure not to show neither skin nor undergarments, the ban proposes, or they will be subject to a fine.

For a first offence that fine would be $25 (£18) but further offences could include community service.

A second offence would allow for a $50 (£36) fine with or instead of three hours of community service; for a third offence the fine rises to $75 (£54) and the community service to six hours. Online records show the bill has most recently been referred to the chamber's judiciary committee.

According to local news source 9news, three of the bill's co-sponsors come from the state's midlands region with seven others from both Democrat and Republican sides of the aisle co-sponsoring the bill.

The bill clearly states that a violation of the ban would not result in a criminal record or leave someone unable to recieve financial assistance for higher education.

9news noted that this isn't even a first in the state. In 2016, the town of Timmonsville in South Carolina's Florence County passed an ordinace that banned people from wearing trousers that showed undergarments.

If you violated the Timmonsville ban, you could face a fine as high as $600 (£431).