No-gun signs go up as new law in effect
The News & Observer
News A1
Matthew Eisley Staff Writer
Published: December 2, 1995
Even as hundreds of Triangle handgun owners applied Friday for permits to carry hidden pistols, local government authorities and store owners bearing no-gun signs beat them to the draw.
As of Friday, a new state law allows sane, trained, law-abiding adults to arm themselves with hidden handguns. But permit applications weren't taken until then, and background and fingerprint checks could take three months. The law bans concealed pistols in schools, courthouses, banks, bars, parades and state and federal office buildings. It also lets local governments, businesses, churches and other private property owners ban them.
So merchants are loading up on signs that banish heat-packers just like smokers, shoplifters, loiterers, check-bouncers and the shirtless.
"We as employers have a responsibility to create an environment that's as safe as possible for our employees and our customers," said Henry Knight, a former Wake County school board chairman who owns four Electronics Unlimited stores in the Triangle and two more in Eastern North Carolina. He said he's putting signs in all six.
"This is one more thing for businesses to worry about," Knight said. "If it's such a good thing, why did the law ban it in the General Assembly?"
Knight is using signs provided by the N.C. Retail Merchants Association, which ran out of its first batch of 1,000 earlier this week.
"They went real quickly," said President Fran Preston. "We're scheduling a second printing."
Scores of North Carolina cities, towns and counties have banned hidden guns on government property, including Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill and Orange and Durham counties. Cary and other towns are considering it.
Raleigh alone posted 470 signs and 166 decals in parks, fire stations, community centers, the Civic Center, police substations and city buses at a cost of $12,500.
A quick look around the Triangle on day one showed many store managers didn't seem worried about customers carrying concealed guns. But some businesses are concerned.
"At the time of purchase, someone may be in their right mind.," said Andrew Gill, manager of the 24-hour Carrboro Exxon. "But what happens if they lose their job or get divorced and they have a gun handy? I think our policy is going to be kind of like the Old West: We'll put out the signs and have them check their guns at the door."
Some people think the signs are a waste.
"Putting signs or brochures or whatever banning the guns isn't going to do any good," said Phyllis Rone-Burrell, a registrar's assistant at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "If they bring a gun on campus, of course they're going to keep it concealed ... until they're ready to use it."
A Chapel Hill group called the North Carolinians Against Gun Violence Education Fund said Friday that it will offer businesses free "No Concealed Handguns Allowed" signs at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce.
Meantime, permit applicants showed up at Triangle sheriff's departments slowly but steadily throughout the day.
Durham County, where the sheriff's department built a special room for the process, led the Triangle with 152 prospective applicants, mostly middle-age men. About one-fourth had finished the state-required gun course.
Durham County is accepting completed applications only Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m.
Orange County had 47 applicants.
Wake County had an even 100.
One was Patrick Murphy of Raleigh, a 41-year-old IBM analyst who owns several pistols.
"It's not something that I plan to exercise very often," he said. "It's nice to have the option. It's mostly for personal protection. I won't carry a gun exposed in most places because it makes people uncomfortable."
Murphy said he thinks North Carolinians will get used to others carrying concealed handguns, just as folks have in other states. And he has a warning for merchants who post signs forbidding them:
"Any store that I go into that has a sign, I'm going to find the manager and tell him that if they keep the sign, I'm not going to shop there anymore," he said. "It's an economic boycott that any of us can participate in."
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(Staff writers Joyce Clark, Michele Kurtz and Noah Bartolucci contributed to this report.)
c photo; 3 photos
Caption: Wake County residents line up early Friday in the Wake sheriff's department to submit applications to carry a concealed weapon. Friday was the first day North Carolina residents could apply. Electronics Unlimited owner Henry Knight, left, calls the concealed handguns law 'one more thing for businesses to worry about.' At right, University of North Carolina employee Ed Wheeler checks the level of a new sign banning concealed weapons on campus. Scott Ferrell puts up a 'no handguns' decal on a Durham City Hall entrance.
Credit: Staff Photo by Harry Lynch Staff Photo by Jim Bounds Staff Photo by Chuck Liddy
Copyright 1995, 1996 by The News & Observer Pub. Co.