North Carolina: NRA-Supported Omnibus Bill Passes Out of Committee

Please contact your state Senator and urge her or him to support HB 562 when it reaches the full Senate!

House Bill 562, the NRA-supported omnibus pro-gun reform bill, is rapidly working its way through the North Carolina Senate.  Today, the bill passed out of the Senate Judiciary II Committee on a voice vote with no further changes.  The bill could be heard by the full state Senate as early as today.  

As previously reported, this legislation makes several important changes to North Carolina gun laws, including:

• Requiring the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) of a jurisdiction to certify the transfer or making of a firearm in a timely manner.
• Clarifying 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.
• Establishing an affirmative defense for an individual in certain situations where he or she uses a firearm on prohibited school property "in response to a threatening situation in which deadly force was justified..."
• Improving the existing Range Protection Law, which would help to protect established shooting ranges from new local ordinances designed to shut them down.
• Improving the issuing process and removing unnecessary disqualifiers for Concealed Handgun Permits (CHP).
• Lowering the penalty for carrying a firearm with a valid CHP on posted property from a misdemeanor to an infraction.
• Removing the prohibition on using a lawfully possessed short barreled rifle for hunting.
• Strengthening North Carolina’s preemption statute.

Please contact your state Senator and urge her or him to support HB 562 when it is brought up for consideration.