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 The Civil War flag, which had flown at the State House for 54
years, came down less than a month after a white gunman killed nine
black men and women in a historic Charleston church.
In Washington, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Friday
that the man charged in the massacre, Dylann Roof, was erroneously
able to buy a gun due to a mix-up in a federal background check.
On the State House grounds, an honor guard of black and white state
troopers ceremonially lowered the flag and folded it to be taken to
a nearby museum. Several thousand onlookers chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A"
and broke out singing a refrain from a late 1960s pop song, "Na na,
na na na, hey hey, goodbye."
While the flag is a hated symbol of slavery and racism to many, it
is an emblem of Southern pride and heritage for others.
The banner, a replica of the flag of General Robert E. Lee's Army of
Northern Virginia, was moved to the "relic room" of a state-run
military museum in Columbia, South Carolina's capital. It will be
stored there while an exhibit is prepared.
The rebel standard will be displayed alongside other flags and
artifacts carried by Southern Confederate soldiers 150 years ago in
the Civil War.
 President Barack Obama, the United States' first black president,
tweeted, "South Carolina taking down the confederate flag - a signal
of good will and healing, and a meaningful step towards a better
future."
The state legislature passed a bill ordering the flag's relocation
on Thursday by a wide majority after three days of tense debate.
The 21-year-old suspect in the June 17 killings at the Emanuel
African Methodist Episcopal Church, Dylann Roof, appeared in photos
posing with a Confederate battle flag that surfaced on a website
bearing a racist manifesto. That image spurred politicians and
national retailers to pull it from display.
FBI Director James Comey said on Friday that Roof was only able to
purchase a gun in April because of the background check mix-up.
The examiner conducting the check did not see a police report in
which Roof admitted to drug possession, which would have barred the
man from buying the weapon, Comey said.
With the flag down, South Carolina can now host championship-level
college sports events, National Collegiate Athletic Association
President Mark Emmert said on Friday.
Since 2001, the NCAA has prohibited playing pre-determined
championships in states where the flag is prominently flown.
South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley, who pushed for the
state legislature to enact a law to remove the flag, was among those
watching Friday's ceremony from the State House steps.
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"I'm thinking of those nine people today," she said, referring to
the murder victims in an interview with NBC's "Today" TV show
shortly before the flag came down.
Among the slain were Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the Charleston
church's pastor and a widely admired state senator.
In South Carolina - the first state to secede from the United States
before the 1861-1865 Civil War broke out - this week's debate in the
legislature brought an emotional closure for a symbol long dividing
the state.
The Confederate battle flag waved atop the capitol from 1961 to
2000, when it was moved to a Confederate war memorial near the
building's entrance as a compromise with those who wanted it
permanently removed. South Carolina raised the banner over the
capitol dome at a time when segregationists were resisting federal
efforts to integrate the South.
A black woman, Tenetha Hall of Newberry, South Carolina, said she
took Friday off work to drive an hour to Columbia to watch the flag
come down.
"My heart is overjoyed. I can feel the togetherness," she said. "I'm
so glad my children and six grandchildren will get to see this
history."
The head of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Charles Kelly Barrow,
issued a statement on Thursday saying he was "dismayed" by the law's
signing, describing it as a "politically convenient insult to the
legacy of millions of South Carolinians."
Brighton Lester, 27, of Columbia and his wife, Megan, 24 were at the
State House on Friday carrying large Confederate flags on poles.
Both are white.
"I came here to show my support for the flag, for the positive side
of it," said Brighton Lester.
"I am indifferent on whether it flies at the State House. But I
believe people should be educated about history."
(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington.; Writing by
Letitia Stein and David Adams; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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