Editorial: Pistol purchase permit repeal endangers lives, Cooper needs to veto it

Is it too much to expect that the North Carolina General Assembly look to enact laws based on reality and fact and not on gossip and a hunch?

Gov. Roy Cooper should veto it and that veto needs to be sustained.

That is idle chatter and hearsay -- not reality or facts.

State Sen. Natasha Marcus, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, says in the last fiscal year more than 2,300 Mecklenburg County permit applicants passed the “National Instant Criminal Background Check System” but not the local background review. Those are statistics and data that can be verified --not myth, no hunch.

What’s the difference between the federal system and what local sheriffs do? A lot.

The federal system only involves gun purchases from a “Federal Firearms Licensee.” There are NO checks for guns purchased from individuals or at gun shows. The system also only tracks and accounts criminal convictions – NOT recent arrests, pending charges that might have been dropped or if someone’s in the midst of a legal proceeding concerning a domestic abuse or violence restraint order.  Current law requires sheriffs to both check the national system as well as criminal history from the state Administrative Office of the Courts.

The current system is an important effort to keep these deadly weapons from ending up in the hands of identifiably dangerous people or those who are a danger to themselves.

As with far too many issues the General Assembly have handled this year, public safety and security takes a backseat to an opportunity to appeal to a narrow political base. The legislative leadership’s political consultants are, no doubt, already drafting the mailers and money-raising appeals.

The current situation – a backlog in processing pistol permit applications -- has nothing to do with gun rights or gun control. Sheriffs – particularly those in urban counties who also happen to be Democrats – have been flooded during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Do North Carolinians want domestic abusers to be able to buy guns? Should people who have been arrested for a violent crime and awaiting adjudication be able to purchase a pistol? Sen. Marcus is right: "It is irresponsible, in my opinion, to allow someone who's awaiting a hearing on a domestic abuse charge, for example, to purchase a handgun.”

Gerald Givens Jr., president of the Raleigh-Apex NAACP, opposed the legislation. “This issue is not about Democrats. It’s not about Republicans. It’s about us doing the work that we can to prevent homicides as well as suicides.”

This legislation doesn’t address a problem with a remedy to improve North Carolina but presents a very real threat to the safety and lives of people who need protection.

If North Carolina’s legislators can’t put the well-being of citizens first, Gov. Cooper must with his veto.