Gun-rights bills for easier pistol purchases advance in NC legislature

Republican state lawmakers advanced new gun rights proposals Tuesday, looking to make it easier for people to buy handguns and carry them concealed in more places.

One proposal moving through committees in the state House and Senate would get rid of pistol permits, allowing people to buy handguns without having to get the approval of their local sheriff. They'd still have to pass a federal background check.

Sen. Danny Britt, a Robeson County Republican, said the pistol permit law dates back to the Jim Crow era and was intended to let sheriffs ban Black people from being able to arm themselves. It remains outdated, he said, and needs to be repealed.

“We’re making sure that they still have the federal background check requirement before they purchase a handgun,” Britt said. “But we’re not requiring the additional, arbitrary requirements of the pistol permit.”

It was one of multiple proposals heard in committee Tuesday, and it was the one with the strongest public opposition. A number of anti-gun-violence activists came to the legislature to tell lawmakers that making pistols easier to buy will do nothing but lead to an increase in gun deaths.

Gerald Givens Jr., the president of the Raleigh-Durham NAACP, told lawmakers that the people he represents don’t buy the pitch that the bill is intended to remove a racist law from the books. It has nothing to do with that, he said, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee, “Please don’t insult our intelligence by saying it’s about race, the reason to pass this bill into law.”

Givens said he supports the pistol permit rules as a way to improve community safety by making it harder for people to get handguns who shouldn’t have them, noting that he has lost several family members, including a 2-year-old cousin, to gun violence.

GOP leaders dismissed safety concerns. People will still have to pass a federal background check before they can buy a pistol, the bill sponsors said — this bill would just remove the requirement for local sheriffs to also sign off on someone’s ability to get a gun, Republican Sen. Jim Perry said.

“If this was something that was going to put everyone in some type of great harm, I think this room would be filled with sheriffs from every county,” Perry said. “And that’s just not the case.”

The North Carolina Sheriffs Association supported a similar bill last session, and the association's general counsel Eddie Caldwell said Tuesday that hasn't changed.

Senate Republicans were adamant Tuesday that repealing the pistol permit rules wouldn't let anyone get a gun who shouldn’t be able to. But Republicans in the House were less certain.

On Tuesday the House also advanced a similar bill to repeal pistol permits — but with additional language to fix a loophole that would’ve potentially let domestic abusers in North Carolina buy handguns, if the pistol permit rules do get repealed.

Gun-rights advocates at a House committee meeting objected to the change targeted at domestic abusers. But the Republican-led committee still passed it.

Liberal activists also said at multiple committee hearings Tuesday that getting rid of pistol permits would create loopholes for people with mental health problems to get guns, too.

Stormy Ingold, a Raleigh mom, said repealing the pistol permit rules will put more guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them — people like her son.

“My son, who is now a young adult, struggles with a serious bipolar disorder which includes episodes of impulsive mania, and episodes of deep depression,” said Ingold, who is a member of the gun control group Moms Demand Action. “The only thing that has come between him and the ability to purchase a handgun is North Carolina’s pistol permit requirement.”

“I thank God for that requirement,” she added.

Originally on Tuesday, Republican senators advanced three separate gun-related bills. But they quickly combined them into a single bill.

One of the proposals, to encourage gun safety measures and suicide awareness, had broad bipartisan support. The other two were much more divided along party lines. So combining all three into a single bill will force Democrats to decide if they will vote for looser gun regulations, if it also means voting for the safety measures.

Another of the proposals would allow for people to carry concealed weapons to religious services that are held on school property. Some larger churches that also have private schools attached have asked for the bill, and the state Sheriff's Association is also supportive.

Ron Baity, the pastor of a Winston-Salem church, said he's worried his church could be a target for violence because criminals might know about the fact that his members can't carry guns to church, since the church also has a school.

"Cowards go where there are no deterrents," Baity said during a press conference at the legislature Tuesday.

The third proposal would “launch a two-year statewide firearm safe storage awareness initiative to educate the public about the importance of the safe storage of firearms and to facilitate the distribution of gun locks.”

Rob Lamme, a lobbyist for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, said handguns are by far the most common method of suicide in North Carolina. Anything that could cut down on that is welcome, he said, so his group supports the safe storage proposal.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper already used an executive order to have the state Department of Health and Human Services do similar work nearly four years ago, in 2019. The bill filed Tuesday, however, would have the firearms storage push run by the state Wildlife Resources Commission, instead of the health department.

There have been other gun bills introduced at the legislature, too, like one that would create a new tax break for gun owners who buy a safe or other storage equipment, and one to let security guards at private schools carry guns at those schools.

Another would let probation and parole officers, who carry guns for work, also carry concealed guns off duty even if they haven’t passed a concealed carry permit test. It passed the House Rules committee late Tuesday, meaning it can now go to a vote on the full House floor.

Some of the other bills are at earlier stages in the process but are also expected to move quickly.

Cooper has vetoed bills loosening gun restrictions in the past. But this is the first time since 2018 the Republican-led legislature has had a real chance to override his vetoes.

Republican leaders took large steps a decade ago, when they controlled the legislature and the governor’s office, to rewrite or undo many of North Carolina’s gun laws. But gun-ownership supporters have pushed for more and were at the legislature Tuesday when these changes rolled out.