A group of state House Republicans proposed a bill last week to allow for concealed carry without a permit in the state of North Carolina. The gun bill was put forward days before the Orlando shooting by Rep. Larry Pittman, and is supported by Reps. Michael Speciale, Mark Brody, Jeff Collins and Bert Jones.
The bill states, “any person who is a citizen of the United States and is at least the age of 21 years old may carry a concealed weapon in the state.”
North Carolina is one of 12 states to require a permit to buy a handgun, although it does currently allow for open carry and concealed carry. However, in both cases the buyer must apply for and obtain a permit, as well as a license to carry. Each application differs across the state as the process is determined by district.
Typically, to obtain a gun permit in North Carolina, an application is filed at the local sheriff’s office. This application includes fingerprinting, a background check and a test to display “good moral character.” The process may include calling on neighbors and friends to attest to certain attributes of the applicant’s personality as well. Once all of this information has been gathered, a license is given to the applicant. The issuance of the permit itself can take up to 30 days or more. North Carolina does not issue gun permits to persons who have previously been drug addicts, former convicts, are deemed mentally incompetent, or are under a restraining order.
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On top of this application, in order to receive a concealed carry permit, the applicant must go through a training course that amounts to eight hours.
If the newly proposed bill, currently being referred to as HB 1148 as it lacks an official name, passes, this application process for concealed carry permits would end.
Rep. Pittman linked his proposed bill to the Orlando shooting in a statement released Monday, saying, “if this [shooting] doesn’t demonstrate the need for citizens to be armed I don’t know what does.”
He went on to say that if more people had access to guns the shooting would have ended much faster as “honest citizens” would have had the ability to defend themselves. It was included in the statement that more access to guns would act as a deterrent to criminals and terrorists, reasoning for access to firearms to expand in North Carolina, according to Pittman.
While some North Carolina citizens are for the bill, quite a few are against it, including Justin Card, the range manager for Triangle Shooting Academy.
Card believes that those who desire to carry a concealed weapon should have the patience and motivation to wait for the permits required.
“If someone’s not motivated enough to sit in and take the North Carolina class to be able to carry a handgun in this state, they probably don’t need to be carrying a hand gun,” Card told WNCN.
Others, such as Shelton Barefoot, disagree. Barefoot said in his interview with CBS North Carolina that the ones going through the legal processes are not the ones committing crimes and should therefore not be punished with the rigorous permit process.
The bill, likely to face an uphill battle, is slated to be voted on this November in the North Carolina General Assembly.