North Carolina: Some State Representatives Cause Unacceptable Delay for Pistol Purchase Permit Repeal

Today, the North Carolina Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Committee passed a version of House Bill 562 that contained an unacceptable delay to repealing the outdated pistol purchase permit system to 2021.  The final vote was 14-13.  This new version is the result of some Representatives going back on their word that they support a simple repeal.

While the rest of the bill contains solid, pro-gun reforms, NRA will work to return the repeal language to its original version. 

Please call your Representative TODAY and urge her or him to support the original language in H 562 relating to repealing the pistol purchase permit.  Click the button below to take action now!

In its original form, H 562 would simply replace a nearly 100-year-old law that allows sheriffs to use arbitrary, personal discretion when determining who may lawfully purchase a handgun with the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).  NICS is utilized by the majority of other states, and also used in North Carolina for purchases of rifles and shotguns from licensed dealers.  The current antiquated, inefficient law requires law-abiding North Carolina citizens to ask permission from their local sheriff before being allowed to purchase a handgun.  Even if an individual is not prohibited from purchasing a handgun under federal or state law, a sheriff can still deny the request based on the sheriff’s personal belief that the individual is not of “good moral character,” whatever that means.  

Furthermore, there is no real uniformity to how this law is implemented, as many sheriff departments operate the system differently.  It is long past time for this system to be repealed, and for North Carolina to join the majority of the country by utilizing NICS for handgun purchases from licensed dealers.

Along with repealing the handgun purchase permit system, the original Second Amendment Affirmation Act seeks to make a number of important improvements which would:   

• Require the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) of a jurisdiction to certify the transfer or making of a firearm in a timely manner.  This measure had been removed in a previous version, but has been added back to the bill.

• Clarify the exemption for keeping a firearm in a vehicle by a person with a valid Concealed Handgun Permit while the vehicle is on the property of a public school.

• Improve the existing Range Protection Law, which would help to protect shooting ranges from new local ordinances designed to shut them down.

• Improve the issuing process and remove unnecessary disqualifiers for Concealed Handgun Permits.

• Remove the prohibition on using a lawfully possessed short barreled rifle for hunting.

• Strengthen North Carolina’s preemption statute.