Major NC gun bill delayed, may be done for legislative session

North Carolina lawmakers pulled back Wednesday from a bill that would let people carry concealed guns without a permit.

The measure faces an uphill battle now, with the top Senate Republican saying Wednesday that he doesn’t think it’s time to take up the issue. In the House of Representatives, lawmakers punted on a scheduled vote, indicating the bill didn’t have enough support to pass the chamber.

House Bill 189 would let any legal gun owner conceal that gun. Right now gun owners need a concealed carry permit to do that, which is typically issued by their local sheriff. That process requires a background check, proficiency test and a test on the rules for self defense and where guns are allowed.

Those tests, and the permits themselves, would be optional under the bill.

The bill moved through a pair of committees Tuesday and seemed primed to pass the House. But enough Republican lawmakers had misgivings to at least delay the measure, and leadership dropped it from Wednesday’s House floor calendar. Tomorrow brings a legislative deadline that there are ways around but which generally requires bills to pass at least one chamber to stay alive.

Also Wednesday, Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger indicated the bill would not move through his chamber this session. Berger, R-Rockingham, said Senate Republicans hadn’t discussed the bill, but that the General Assembly already passed a substantial gun bill this year, ending the state’s pistol permit system.

That system required people to get a permit from their sheriff to purchase a handgun, and Republicans lawmakers scrapped it over Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto.

“We've done away with the pistol purchase permit, which was the No. 1 goal of many of the gun rights groups for a long period of time,” Berger said Wednesday. “I just don't know if there's a need for us to delve into additional issues dealing with guns and people's 2nd Amendment rights."

“People have a right to protect themselves utilizing weapons, and law abiding citizens can be trusted to handle those rights responsibly,” Berger said. “I just don't know that the timing is right for us, at this time, to move forward with additional gun legislation."

Gun rights organizations pushed hard for the concealed carry bill, in addition to ending the pistol permit system. Law enforcement opposed the concealed carry bill, though, as did gun control groups.

The bill would also would have let elected officials bring guns into places where they're otherwise banned, if they have a concealed carry permit and are there as part of their official duties. That could include state lawmakers bringing guns into the legislature.