NC House sends pistol permit repeal bill to Gov. Cooper, after emotional debate on violence and gun rights

A repeal of North Carolina’s pistol permit rules passed the state House Wednesday, heading to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk for his signature.

The bill's GOP backers say it’s an important move for people’s Second Amendment rights. Getting a pistol permit can sometimes take weeks, slowing down gun sales.

"This is a great bill," said Republican Rep. Jeffrey McNeely of Iredell County. "It covers all parts of the Second Amendment."

The state's pistol permit rules give local sheriffs broad discretion to deny people a permit — like for people with mental problems, or who the sheriff believes to be involved in crime even if they haven’t been convicted.

Critics of those rules say they're an outdated relic of the Jim Crow era, originally intended to let white supremacist sheriffs stop Black people from arming themselves. Groups like the NAACP, however, have said previously that they believe Republicans are just using that as a convenient excuse to make the bill seem less controversial.

Supporters of pistol permits say they help ensure safer communities. Not only do sheriffs have more information on locals than the federal background check system, they say, the permits are also the only way the state currently has to stop many domestic abusers from easily getting a gun.

"We're not trying to challenge anyone's Second Amendment rights," said Durham Democratic Rep. Marcia Morey. "We support that. We want to keep people safe."

The bill, SB 41, passed the House 70-44 after previously passing the Senate 29-19.

Racial justice advocates oppose repeal of pistol permit law

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a similar bill to repeal pistol permits in 2021, writing at the time that state lawmakers "should focus on combating gun violence instead of making it easier for guns to end up in the wrong hands."

But in the 2022 elections Republicans picked up more seats in the General Assembly, increasing their chances of overriding Cooper's vetoes. If all lawmakers are present and every Republican votes for an override, then only one Democrat in the House needs to join them to pass a bill into law over Cooper's objection. On Wednesday, three House Democrats voted for the pistol permit repeal.

Domestic violence concerns

In addition to felons, people with misdemeanor domestic violence convictions are also banned from buying guns.

However, due to a federal court ruling several years ago, the federal background check system isn't allowed to flag most domestic violence convictions out of North Carolina due to the vague way that prosecutors here charge those cases.

Since federal background checks can’t flag most domestic violence convictions, pistol permits are the only tool stopping most domestic abusers from getting a handgun in North Carolina.

Some Republicans had originally proposed fixing that loophole, using the pistol permit repeal bill to also create a new domestic violence crime, so that future abusers would be stopped by federal background checks.

Following opposition from gun rights activists, GOP leadership got rid of that language — and later prevented Democrats from attempting to add it back in.

Democratic proposals shot down

The debate over whether to fix the domestic violence loophole happened in a different bill the House already passed this year to repeal the pistol permit rules.

During the debate Wednesday, Democrats tried to propose four other amendments to the new bill.

None were expected to pass, but Republican House Speaker Tim Moore refused to let them even be voted on — potentially so that his GOP members wouldn't be put in the position of potentially voting against proposals, like universal background checks, that polls show have widespread public support.

The amendments Moore blocked Democrats from proposing included:

• Require universal background checks for gun purchases.
• Continue requiring pistol permits for private sales, like at gun shows, which are not covered by federal background checks.
• Create a "red flag" law to allow judges to order people to turn over their guns if deemed a threat to themselves or others, for instance due to a mental health breakdown.
• Make it a crime for people to leave a gun in an unlocked vehicle, if the gun isn't also locked up.

Democratic Rep. Joe John of Raleigh is the one who asked to propose the red flag amendment. He asked that Moore explain why he and others weren't even allowed to try introducing their amendments, as is the normal procedure.

Moore said it was done to save time.

More GOP-backed gun changes

The bill they passed Wednesday would go a step further, not only repealing pistol permit rules but also loosening rules for concealed carry on certain school grounds.

It wouldn’t apply to public schools. But the bill would let people bring guns to private school campuses, as long as they aren’t there during school hours and are instead attending a religious service. It’s intended for people who attend churches, synagogues or mosques that are attached to schools.

Concealed carry has been allowed at religious services that aren’t at schools since the 1990s; supporters say this just broadens the rules. They cite the growing number of hate-crime mass shootings targeting people at religious services.

That provision is not as controversial as the suggestion to get rid of pistol permits. But it wasn’t unanimous either; opponents said that while there’s a chance of a mass shooting, there’s a far greater likelihood of someone accidentally leaving their gun in a bathroom or classroom at the school, and a student finding it later and hurting themselves or others.

The bill would also encourage the state government to conduct an education campaign about suicide awareness and safe gun storage.

Democrats preferred mandating safe gun storage. Republicans did not want to go that far.