McCrory: Keep NC's pistol permit system
Former Gov. Pat McCrory said Monday that North Carolina's pistol permit system, which the legislature is two votes away from scrapping, should remain in place.
That puts McCrory, a Republican, in step with his Democratic successor: Gov. Roy Cooper. GOP lawmakers voted recently to do away with the system, which requires handgun buyers to get a permit from a local sheriff before buying a pistol.
McCrory called the system “the last line of defense of common sense,” giving sheriffs the opportunity to deny handgun purchases to in rare circumstances because they know the person has an issue with “alcohol, drugs, mental health or domestic violence problems that you wouldn't see through a federal background check."
Cooper vetoed that proposal, Senate Bill 41, on Friday. Senate leadership provided notice Monday that the chamber might take an override vote Tuesday. That makes the bill eligible for an override vote, but it doesn’t guarantee one.
If the Senate votes to override the bill moves to the House for its override vote. If both override the veto, it would end the long-running permit system.
The bill applies only to handgun sales, not rifles. In the past two years, the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association backed the repeal of the handgun rule, saying it was no longer necessary due to improvements in the federal background check system in place for all guns purchased from a licensed dealer.
That’s not a universal opinion from sheriffs, though. Several Democratic sheriffs in urban areas say the system should stay in place. At least two loopholes are of concern: Private sales, between two people and not involving a gun store, don’t require a background check. And the federal check doesn’t flag most domestic violence convictions in North Carolina.
A successful override vote is expected in the Senate, where Republicans hold a veto-proof majority, which is three-fifths of members present and voting in a given session. The outcome is less certain in the House, where GOP lawmakers are one seat shy of that margin.
Three Democrats voted for the bill when it passed the House this month, but it's not unusual for lawmakers who voted for a bill to flip once the governor vetoes to show solidarity with the leader of their political party.
This is a significant test of Cooper's veto power, and the Republican majority has multiple advantages, particularly as this legislative session extends. Because the veto threshold depends on the total number of members present, two Democratic absences on a given day, or during a given vote, would give Republicans the margin they need, provided all Republican members are there.
McCrory threatened to veto a similar gun bill when he was governor, but it didn't pass during his tenure.
"I don't think we need any new gun laws, but I don't think we ought to take the existing gun laws off the books either,” McCrory said Monday.
Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson is the bill's lead sponsor. He called McCrory's position "unfortunate but not surprising."
"There is nothing in this legislation that jeopardizes our safety," Britt said in a text message.
McCrory said he didn't reach out to Republican legislators before speaking to WRAL News.
“I don't think it would have much impact,” he said.
McCrory said the permit system worked well when he was governor. And absent evidence of abuse by sheriffs since then, he said, the system should stay in place. Some bill supporters have complained that Democratic sheriffs in large counties, including Wake, slow-walk permit decisions, making things more difficult for law-abiding gun owners.
Then Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker suspended permits applications in 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw a surge in gun purchases. Baker resumed taking applications after a lawsuit was filed.
McCrory said if some sheriffs are abusing the system, “maybe they ought to apply the law only to those counties,” adding that he knows Republican and Democratic sheriffs who use the law judiciously.
“Even though it might not be perfect in all 100 counties, it's probably perfect in 90% of the counties,” he said.
