Carrying concealed guns without a permit would be OK under bill moving ahead in NC

A month after state lawmakers repealed North Carolina’s permit law for buying handguns, the GOP-controlled legislature is moving forward with legislation to do away with another permit requirement, this time for carrying concealed guns.

Lawmakers introduced House Bill 189, the “NC Constitutional Carry Act,” back in February. The bill, which would allow anyone over the age of 18 to carry a concealed handgun without having to get a permit from their sheriff’s office, hadn’t moved in the House until this week.

HB 189 could end up on the House floor this week. On Tuesday, the bill cleared its first committee ahead of an imminent deadline of Thursday for bills to pass one chamber of the General Assembly so that they can be taken up by the other chamber.

State law currently allows people 21 and older to carry a concealed handgun, if they first obtain a permit from their sheriff’s office. HB 189 would lower the age after which concealed carry is allowed to 18, and allow eligible North Carolinians to carry concealed guns without possessing a permit.

A group of people that included Elizabeth Hoane of Durham spoke against the bill at a demonstration Tuesday. Hoane said “moving the permitting, the training and the control that we currently have over concealed carry is going to introduce more chaos into our public areas and our streets.”

“We already know that we are not safe in our schools in our grocery stores, in our movie theaters, in our front yards. We think that this is going to make it worse.”

The bill doesn’t do away with the permitting process altogether, as the repeal of the pistol purchase permit back in March did.

Language in HB 189 states that while it would legalize concealed carry without a permit in North Carolina, “it is often convenient to have a concealed handgun permit for the purpose of reciprocity when traveling in another state, to make the purchase of a firearm more efficient, or for various other reasons.”

For that reason, the bill states, it would keep the permit available to anyone who qualifies for one under state law.

Rep. Keith Kidwell, a Beaufort County Republican and one of the main proponents of the bill, said during the House Judiciary 2 committee meeting on Tuesday that passing the bill would make North Carolina the 28th state in the country to pass a similar bill removing restrictions on carrying a concealed gun.

Kidwell said he had received just one message from constituents opposing the bill, versus hundreds of messages from constituents supporting it. Rep. Laura Budd, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, said the messages she has received have fallen along opposite lines: hundreds against and almost none in favor.

Supporters and critics speak in committee

Paul Valone, the president of Grass Roots North Carolina and one of the bill’s strongest supporters, told lawmakers that the bill represented a “relatively modest bite at the apple” when it comes to making changes to current restrictions.

Valone pushed back on concerns raised by Democrats that the bill was getting rid of firearm training and education requirements currently in place, and pointed out that a new version of the bill included some education requirements.

Andy Stevens, with Gun Owners of America, also said the bill was necessary to address an issue that gun rights supporters raised during the debate over repealing the pistol permit, that sheriffs in larger, more populous counties have been “slow walking” approval of permit applications.

Becky Ceartas, the executive director of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, said the bill would make communities less safe.

“Who can be against training and background checks?” Ceartas asked.

During debate on Senate Bill 41, the bill that repealed the pistol permit law, GOP lawmakers repeatedly pointed to the N.C. Sheriff’s Association’s support for removing the permit requirement as proof that law enforcement officials agreed that the permits were no longer necessary.

But when it comes to allowing people to carry concealed guns without a concealed carry permit, the association isn’t on the same page, said Marie Evitt, the association’s director of government relations.

Evitt said that under current law, sheriffs run mental health checks and check if an applicant has a criminal history, and have the ability to make sure someone applying to carry a concealed weapon knows the law and has a “minimum level of accuracy.” With HB 189, lawmakers are expecting citizens to determine if they’re capable of carrying a concealed weapon and complying with state law.

“Practically, this bill would make it nearly impossible for law enforcement to know, when they approach someone, whether they qualify as someone who can carry concealed,” Evitt said.

Staff writer Virginia Bridges contributed to this report.