N. Carolina Constitution prohibits CHL

[rmurfster]

I was reading over the state constitutions to see which ones explicitly allows for bearing arms for personal defense vs. general defense and ran across this in the NC Constitution (I know, I know... I have too much free time on my hands

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; and, as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they shall not be maintained, and the military shall be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power. Nothing herein shall justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons, or prevent the General Assembly from enacting penal statutes against that practice.

So, NC's Constitution explicitly prohibits CHL and even calls for the punishment of those who are caught!! I assume this was added recently by some anti-gun state congress? :banghead:

Richard

 

[LAR-15]

Uh your wrong.

That language has been on the books well over 100 years ( I believe it was passed sometime in the 1870s).

It merely allows the legislature to restrict or prohibit concealed carry of weapons.

North Carolina has had a CCH permit law since 1995.

Also you can carry on your own property PERMIT FREE.

What you outlined merely says the NC Constitution's RTKABA provision does not protect concealed carry and the legislature can regulate/ban such.


NC does have permitless open carry.

 

[El Tejon]

rmurf, in the antebellum South, in addition to laws forbidding firearm possession by Blacks, there was much concern over concealed weaponry. It was seen as a mark of the lower classes and thought to give rise to the drunken violence that was common to lower class Whites. Gentlemen openly and proudly displayed their weapons, only the "meaner sort" concealed their weapons.

 

[1911austin]

(I know, I know... I have too much free time on my hands

So, NC's Constitution explicitly prohibits CHL

Take a reading comprehension class......just kidding

 

[hugh damright]

I think at least a dozen State Constitutions declare the RKBA while declaring that the State has a right to pass CCW laws. It seems simple enough to me - the RKBA is necessary to the security of a free State, but CCW is not.

 

[ChestyP]

The NC Constitutional RKBA provision

doesn't PROHIBIT concealed carry, it just means you can't use the RKBA provision to JUSTIFY concealed carry. There is similar language in many state constitutions.

Anti's in NM tried to use that state's constitutional language to have the NM CCW law killed. They failed. The legislature can pass CCW.

Read it carefully.

 

[DrewH]

Same clause in the Missouri constitution. An attempt to shoot down MO new CCW law using it failed in the courts. I assume these clauses are pretty old.

That provision simply means the RKBA part of the NC constitution is explicitly not intended to cover/allow CCW. The legislature is given the right to disapprove CCW or approve it as it chooses.

 

[Kim]

It was my understanding that most of the Constitutions in the South that prohibited CCW were written to keep freed slaves from carrying concealed. Now if they carried open they were likely to be beat up or killed or ran out of the STATE. I believe if you read Flordia Congressional record they explicitately state this as the reason. They also say the law will only be used aganist a black person.

 

[Zach S]

NC does have permitless open carry.

However the "going armed to the terror of the people" makes it a grey issue...

 

[RealGun]

I think at least a dozen State Constitutions declare the RKBA while declaring that the State has a right to pass CCW laws. It seems simple enough to me - the RKBA is necessary to the security of a free State, but CCW is not.

Unrestricted open carry would have to be legal in the background to consider that state of affairs to be fine and dandy. The issue would have to be concealment, not RKBA.

 

[LAR-15]

Mere open carry of a handgun (or other firearm) does not violate the 'going armed to the terror of the people' statute in NC.

Some cities/counties are allowed by NC law however to ban open carry of firearms.

I believe Chapel Hill does just that.

Again the mere 'wearing' or 'carrying' of a pistol does not meet the requirements of 'going armed to the terror of the people' common law statute.

 

[gazpacho]

Since when does any state (of these United States of America) have any right to maintain a standing army, regardless of there being war or not?

 

[mogunner]

Missouri's Constitution has identical language, which our State Supreme Court ruled that the Missouri CCH was Constitutional.

 

[benEzra]

Doesn't prohibit it, just says it's not automatically allowed.

I have a NC CCW permit. NC is a shall-issue state.