GRNC Alert 3-18-13: Mecklenburg Co. Proposes Park Carry Restrictions

Negotiations stall with bill’s sponsor…

Law-abiding citizens have enjoyed 16 months of incident-free legal concealed carry in Mecklenburg County parks, thanks to changes to GS 14-415.23 secured by GRNC. Now, the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners plans to vote at their next meeting on Tuesday, March 19, on proposed changes to the local parks ordinance to ban legal concealed carry in “recreational facilities,” as allowed under an unfortunate amendment to the GS 14-415.23 changes.

As we all know, adding these gun free zones to Mecklenburg County parks has the counter-intuitive effect, at least counter-intuitive to gun grabbers, of making the parks more dangerous — not more safe. Mothers at playgrounds with their children, or any of us using Mecklenburg parks, will be targets for criminals as a result of the proposed changes. In addition, the county has added a 25′ arbitrary perimeter around each “recreational facility” that will be impossible for concealed carry permittees to navigate, unless of course they routinely carry a laser range finder (not likely!).

Our Mecklenburg County friends need your help, and Mecklenburg County residents need to act now! Please email the county commissioners with the following message in an effort to convince five of the board members to vote against the proposed ordinance changes.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

Email the Mecklenburg County Commissioners. Tell them to respect the rights of North Carolinians to defend themselves in county parks.

CONTACT INFO

Mecklenburg County Commissioners:

Pat Cotham –
Pat.Cotham@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Kim M. Ratliff –
Kim.Ratliff@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Trevor Fuller –
Trevor.Fuller@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Karen Bentley –
Karen.Bentley@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Vilma Leake –
Vilma.Leake@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

George Dunlap –
George.Dunlap@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Dumont Clark –
dumontclarke@mvalaw.com

Matthew Ridenhour –
Matthew.Ridenhour@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov

Bill James –
wjames@carolina.rr.com

Mecklenburg Cut and Paste Email List:

Pat.Cotham@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, Kim.Ratliff@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, Trevor.Fuller@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, Karen.Bentley@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, Vilma.Leake@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, George.Dunlap@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, George.Dunlap@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, dumontclarke@mvalaw.com, Matthew.Ridenhour@MecklenburgCountyNC.gov, wjames@carolina.rr.com

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE   

Suggested Subject: “Keep Parks Safe: Don’t Disarm Law-Abiding” 

Dear County Commissioner:

It has come to my attention through Grass Roots North Carolina (grnc.org) that changes to the Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Facilities Ordinance will be considered this Tuesday evening that will make county parks more dangerous. Specifically, the proposed changes to limit legal concealed carry of handguns by concealed carry permittees in “recreational facilities”, as those facilities are defined under NCGS 14-415.23, will make county parks more dangerous for mothers at playgrounds, and for all citizens visiting and enjoying the array of Mecklenburg County parks. I strongly encourage you to vote against the proposed changes and to keep Mecklenburg County parks safe by allowing concealed carry permit holders to use the parks system unfettered by restrictions.

The support for this request runs deep:

•    Concealed carry restrictions in parks are not required by NC state law, they are optional.

•    Mecklenburg County has not used the restrictions since the changes to 14-415.23 took effect on December 1, 2011, ~1.5 years ago, with no untoward incidents, therefore, why implement now?

•    Concealed carry permittees have proven to be an exceptionally safe, sober, exemplary, law-abiding group and are not a problem.

•    Studies show the mere possibility of the presence of concealed carry permittees in a locale reduces violent crime because criminals will not chance an encounter with a legally armed citizen.

•    “Gun Free Zones”, where only criminals will carry, are a proven danger to everyone and a magnet for crime – all but one of the significant shooting incidents we know of from the news in the past several years has occurred in a gun free zone – this is not a coincidence.

•    Anecdotal information suggests gun free NC municipal parks, especially prior to the changes to 14-415.23, are more dangerous than non-gun-free-zones in NC, and the rate of violent crime in parks likely has not decreased as it has in most areas.

•    By definition, concealed firearms will be invisible to other park goers, therefore, concerns about the presence of firearms causing worry or stress for unarmed park-goers is moot.

•    Mothers and fathers taking their children to playgrounds, baseball fields and the like, and all park visitors, have the right and responsibility to be their first line of defense to protect themselves and their families from violent predators.

•    Proposed restrictions are a demonstration of distrust toward the 19,000 + law-abiding concealed carry permittees in Mecklenburg County who jumped through hoops, completed there training, etc., to obtain their permit.

•    Implementing gun free zones in parks is an unnecessary and inappropriate encroachment on freedom, the Second Amendment, and the right to self-defense.

•    County Commissioners would be well advised to delete concealed firearms restrictions from park rules signage, vote against the proposed changes to the county parks ordinance, and leave well enough alone.

Sincerely,

Copyright Info

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