Found this at GT. Thought it should be shared here also.
Bill Eases Gun Buying
Senate bill allows those with concealed gun permits to buy pistols without approval steps
By JOHN FRANK, Staff Writer
Purchasing a handgun in North Carolina would get easier under a bill passed by the state Senate on Thursday.
The measure -- a version of which passed the House in April 2003 -- would allow people with a concealed handgun permit to buy a pistol without going through the typical approval process.
As the law stands now, a permit to purchase a handgun is issued by a local sheriff after a background check.
In the Triangle area, the change would affect Wake, Johnston and Durham counties the most. They rank in the top quarter of counties in the number of concealed handgun permits issued, according to State Bureau of Investigation figures.
Making concealed permit holders apply for handgun purchase permits is unnecessary because they already go through a more rigorous vetting process that includes a federal criminal history check and a review of medical records, said Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democratic and chairman of a Senate Judiciary committee.
The bill passed the Senate with no debate in a 43-3 vote.
Three Democrats -- Ellie Kinnaird of Carrboro, Linda Garrou of Winston-Salem and Katie Dorsett of Greensboro -- opposed the bill.
Garrou said she is concerned that the bill doesn't limit how many guns a concealed permit holder could purchase.
"They could go in and buy a gun every day," she said.
A lobbyist for the N.C. Sheriffs' Association and the N.C. Law Enforcement Officers Association said the organizations didn't take a position on the bill.
But one group, North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, lobbied against the measure.
"We don't like to see the situation made easier for guns to fall in the wrong hands," said Lisa Price of Chapel Hill, the group's executive director. "By removing the evaluation from the sheriff's department you are removing one factor that could keep the public safer.
Sheriffs could keep someone from buying a handgun by revoking his concealed weapons permit, Clodfelter said.
Still, some local sheriffs worry about losing their authority to issue handgun permits.
Rod Perry, an Orange County sheriff's deputy, always runs a criminal history check, even if the applicant has a concealed permit.
"If a person has a concealed permit and they go out and commit a crime and are charged by another agency, they are supposed to let us know," Perry said. "But I know there's been situations in other counties where someone committed a crime and the agency didn't let them know."
Clodfelter said there is really no way to correct all those situations.
"There's always timing problems," he said. "We'd have to go back into all the laws to address that."
Now that the bill has passed the Senate, it must go back to the House because of the addition of a provision that would create a special license plate for supporters of the National Rifle Association.
Some legislators said that license plates shouldn't be politicized, but the House is expected to go along with the new version of the bill.
This is great for those of us with N.C. carry permits! Currently one with a NC CCW can purchase a long gun without undergoing the NICS check. I've often wondered why this hasn't been proposed sooner, it really makes sense.
Here's the N.C. General Assembly site with the details of the bill:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2003&BillID=hb+817
Although it seems most likely this will be passed, it can't hurt to contact your local rep!
Bill Eases Gun Buying
Senate bill allows those with concealed gun permits to buy pistols without approval steps
By JOHN FRANK, Staff Writer
Purchasing a handgun in North Carolina would get easier under a bill passed by the state Senate on Thursday.
The measure -- a version of which passed the House in April 2003 -- would allow people with a concealed handgun permit to buy a pistol without going through the typical approval process.
As the law stands now, a permit to purchase a handgun is issued by a local sheriff after a background check.
In the Triangle area, the change would affect Wake, Johnston and Durham counties the most. They rank in the top quarter of counties in the number of concealed handgun permits issued, according to State Bureau of Investigation figures.
Making concealed permit holders apply for handgun purchase permits is unnecessary because they already go through a more rigorous vetting process that includes a federal criminal history check and a review of medical records, said Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democratic and chairman of a Senate Judiciary committee.
The bill passed the Senate with no debate in a 43-3 vote.
Three Democrats -- Ellie Kinnaird of Carrboro, Linda Garrou of Winston-Salem and Katie Dorsett of Greensboro -- opposed the bill.
Garrou said she is concerned that the bill doesn't limit how many guns a concealed permit holder could purchase.
"They could go in and buy a gun every day," she said.
A lobbyist for the N.C. Sheriffs' Association and the N.C. Law Enforcement Officers Association said the organizations didn't take a position on the bill.
But one group, North Carolinians Against Gun Violence, lobbied against the measure.
"We don't like to see the situation made easier for guns to fall in the wrong hands," said Lisa Price of Chapel Hill, the group's executive director. "By removing the evaluation from the sheriff's department you are removing one factor that could keep the public safer.
Sheriffs could keep someone from buying a handgun by revoking his concealed weapons permit, Clodfelter said.
Still, some local sheriffs worry about losing their authority to issue handgun permits.
Rod Perry, an Orange County sheriff's deputy, always runs a criminal history check, even if the applicant has a concealed permit.
"If a person has a concealed permit and they go out and commit a crime and are charged by another agency, they are supposed to let us know," Perry said. "But I know there's been situations in other counties where someone committed a crime and the agency didn't let them know."
Clodfelter said there is really no way to correct all those situations.
"There's always timing problems," he said. "We'd have to go back into all the laws to address that."
Now that the bill has passed the Senate, it must go back to the House because of the addition of a provision that would create a special license plate for supporters of the National Rifle Association.
Some legislators said that license plates shouldn't be politicized, but the House is expected to go along with the new version of the bill.
This is great for those of us with N.C. carry permits! Currently one with a NC CCW can purchase a long gun without undergoing the NICS check. I've often wondered why this hasn't been proposed sooner, it really makes sense.
Here's the N.C. General Assembly site with the details of the bill:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2003&BillID=hb+817
Although it seems most likely this will be passed, it can't hurt to contact your local rep!
) which will be in one week. I actually was never based at Cherry Point, but rather I was in the Army at Fort Bragg. I moved to New Bern to take a government job and I now work on Cherry Point as a NMCI network administrator. Do you still shoot at B&R and if you do where do you live/work. Maybe before I go to Ohio we can meet up for some general blasting.
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