NC House votes in favor of repealing pistol permit rules for gun buyers

By Will Doran

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    RALEIGH, North Carolina (WRAL) — House lawmakers passed a controversial bill Wednesday to repeal the law that requires buyers of handguns to get a permit from their local sheriff first.

The state Senate already signed off on a pistol permit repeal, in a wide-ranging gun rights bill that also included a provision to allow concealed weapons at religious services that are held on school grounds.

“People are afraid right now of crime, and they want to arm themselves,” said Republican Rep. Jay Adams during Wednesday’s debate.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a pistol permit repeal bill in the last legislative session. This year, however, Republicans have more seats and a better chance at overriding his vetoes. However, Republicans do still need at least one Democratic vote to override vetoes in the House, and in Wednesday’s vote it didn’t appear there was one, although several lawmakers were absent. The final vote was 67-48.

Supporters say the state’s pistol permit rules are a relic of the racist Jim Crow era, and are now unnecessary since federal background checks have improved in recent years. The state Sheriffs’ Association lobbying group supports the idea to repeal the law.

But not everyone who wants to buy a handgun has to pass a federal background check. So opponents of the bill say that getting rid of the local permit rules will create a loophole for criminals, or people with mental health problems, to legally avoid having to pass any background check. Pistol permits “are one of the most effective policies at preventing gun violence,” Becky Ceartas, who leads the group North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, wrote in a press release after the bill passed. “Why would we repeal a law that has been proven to save lives when gun violence is already at an all time high in North Carolina?”

Federal background checks also don’t flag most domestic violence convictions in North Carolina. The sheriffs’ checks do flag those convictions, so domestic violence advocates oppose repealing the permit rules.

Democratic Rep. Pricey Harrison said there’s no question that more people will die if this bill becomes law.

“It’s going to increase folks’ access to guns who shouldn’t have them,” she said.

The House bill had, at one point, attempted to address that domestic violence concern in the future, by creating a new domestic violence crime that would show up in federal background checks.

But facing outcry from guns rights groups, Republican leaders struck that language from the bill.

Democrats tried bringing those domestic violence protections during Wednesday’s vote. Republicans used a procedural move to stop it, without making representatives vote on where they stood.

The version of the bill that the Senate passed also had no such provision to address the domestic violence loophole.

No other constitutional rights require a background check, said Republican Rep. Keith Kidwell of Beaufort County. He said he wasn’t swayed by concerns that the law would create a loophole for criminals to get guns by avoiding background checks, since criminals are already getting guns anyway.

Most criminals acquire guns by breaking into cars and homes and stealing them,” Kidwell said Wednesday during the debate over the bill. “OK? So unless you’re going to have them, before they can steal the gun out of your car, fill out a pistol purchase permit, this law doesn’t do any good.”

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