Provision in NC abortion bill would close loophole in gun law
A provision tucked into the 47-page abortion bill approved last week by North Carolina lawmakers would close a loophole in North Carolina law that currently allows some domestic abusers to buy guns.
North Carolina doesn't currently have a misdemeanor charge of domestic violence. People who abuse their partners or family members are simply charged with assault or assault on a female.
Under federal law, no one convicted of domestic violence is allowed to buy or own a gun. But the federal background check database, sometimes called NICS, doesn't flag domestic violence convictions from North Carolina because they're not clearly labeled in state criminal records as domestic violence.
"Currently, our law is not configured in a way that that can be picked up," said Eddie Caldwell, the general counsel of the NC Sheriffs' Association.
When the state still had a pistol purchase permit requirement, local sheriffs would be able to see if a person in their county had a record of assaulting a person who lived at their address or was the subject of a domestic violence protective order. But now that the permit requirement has been repealed, NICS is the only background check required. So people with misdemeanor domestic violence records in North Carolina are currently able to purchase guns.
Caldwell says it's a big problem, and for the past several years, one of his group's top priorities has been convincing state lawmakers to enact a new law creating a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
"This is just closing a gap or what might be perceived as a loophole in the current law," Caldwell told WRAL News.
Somehow, the proposal ended up in the abortion bill, Senate Bill 20, as one of several changes to strengthen domestic violence law. Caldwell said his group didn't ask for its inclusion in that bill, and stressed his group has no position on the abortion issue.
"We're certainly in support of the law being enacted to create this crime," Caldwell said, "but we have no position, no involvement whatsoever in the abortion bill, and did not ask specifically for this provision to be put in there."
The bill was passed Thursday by the GOP-led General Assembly. Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, plans to veto the bill due to the abortion restrictions. He held a roundtable in Davidson Tuesday, pressuring moderate Republicans to help block a possible veto override by the Republicans' supermajority.
When asked why the fix for the gun law loophole was included in the abortion bill, sponsor Sen. Vickie Sawyer, R-Iredell, didn't directly address the issue.
"By creating a new misdemeanor crime of domestic violence and increasing the penalties for assaults on pregnant women, we’re providing better avenues for women to seek justice," Sawyer said in a statement.
Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein has also pushed lawmakers to create a new crime of domestic violence. But he said it should have been passed on its own, not included in the abortion ban.
"This is a cynical move by a cynical legislature to try to trick people into thinking this bill is about protecting women. It is not. It is about controlling women. It is about taking away rights that they currently have under North Carolina law," Stein told WRAL News. "They think that the women in North Carolina will fall for it, and I don't believe they will."
