SB 50 FAQ and Next Steps

GRNC ALERT

SB50 FAQ AND ACTION

 

Fellow GRNC Members,

Senate Bill 50 — the “Freedom to Carry NC” act — is on the cusp of becoming law. But we need your help to get it over the finish line. Here’s what’s happening, why it matters, and exactly what you can do right now.

SB 50 FAQs

 

GRNC leadership has received member input suggesting that many people don’t fully understand the admittedly Byzantine dynamics of getting Senate Bill 50 (“Freedom to Carry NC”) passed by overriding anti-gun Governor Josh Stein’s veto. Below we will attempt to answer some of the most common questions we receive.

 

1. SB 50 for permitless concealed carry keeps appearing on the NC House calendar for a vote to override vote, but Republican leadership never seems to give it a vote. The NC Senate quickly overrode Gov. Josh Stein’s veto. Are House Republicans just jerking our chain?

    

   A: No. The short answer is that they are trying to wrangle enough votes to pass it. Because House rules require leadership to give notice of override votes, the bill gets calendared for every voting session in the hope of getting enough votes on any given day to bring it to the floor.

    

   The bad news is that at 71 of the 120-member chamber, NC House Republicans are one seat shy of the 6/10 supermajority required to override Stein’s veto. The good news, however, is that the 6/10 supermajority required is of legislators present rather than 6/10 of the full chamber. This can be accomplished by (1) Waiting until enough legislators aren’t present such that the numbers work; (2) Getting one or more Democrats to vote “yea;” or (3) Getting two or more Dems to “walk” (not vote). Speaker Destin Hall has personally assured GRNC leadership that the bill will go to a floor vote, but we need YOU to keep the pressure on individual Republicans to vote “yea” on the override for SB 50.

    

2. Why does GRNC continue to demand a vote for SB 50 knowing we don’t yet have enough votes in the House to pass the bill?

    

   A: Two reasons: First, we have to keep the bill “on the radar” for NC House members and convince them this is the top priority for gun voters who sent them to Raleigh. Second, we will eventually want a floor vote even knowing it will fail, if necessary, in order to get recorded votes for candidate evaluations. We need to document clearly who our friends are … and are not.

    

3. Does the NRA oppose SB 50?

    

   A: Obviously, GRNC cannot speak for NRA, particularly because we are not affiliated with NRA and legislative positions of the two organizations often do not align. That said, our understanding is that NRA supports the bill “with reservations” because, despite having done nothing to pass constitutional carry in North Carolina, they now say they want permitless carry for anyone who qualifies to buy a firearm – something that would very clearly not pass to become law. GRNC is more closely aligned with Gun Owners of America, which does support SB 50 and has been of considerable help in moving the bill.

    

4. Why is GRNC advocating a bill that is not “pure” constitutional carry?

    

   While SB 50 is far from perfect, GRNC is prioritizing getting into place a system where lawful North Carolinians can carry concealed firearms for self-protection without need for governmental permission slips. If we can get that fundamental change into law, we can go back in future sessions to improve the law exactly as we did for our concealed handgun permit law. In short, whatever its flaws, SB 50 is a giant leap forward.

    

5. Why do you call SB 50 “permitless” carry instead of constitutional carry?

    

   A: With 29 different laws in 29 states, the phrase “constitutional carry” becomes meaningless. Virtually all have restrictions of one kind or another. Essentially, SB 50, like previous bills in the NC legislature, offers concealed carry without a permit to anyone who would otherwise qualify for a permit if they applied, and they will be able to carry in all of the same places as if they had a permit.

    

6. But if this bill passes, how will North Carolinians get reciprocity in other states?

    

   A: SB 50 keeps our concealed handgun permit system intact for the purposes of reciprocity with other states and to allow North Carolinians to bypass the computerized National Instant Background Check System (NICS) when making gun purchases from federally licensed dealers.

    

7. I’m concerned about people carrying concealed without training. What is being done to address that?

    

   A: Bear in mind that fully 29 states have permitless carry laws, and there have been problems in exactly none of them. In fact, the Crime Prevention Research Center found a statistically significant drop in murder rates after passing permitless carry laws.

    

8. What about the fact that SB 50 offers permitless carry to people 18 or over? Is that a good idea?

 

A: Again, statistical evidence in other states doesn’t show any increased risk in lowering the age of concealed carry from 21 to 18, In fact, West Virginia and Kentucky just did exactly that, meaning roughly 18 states allow concealed carry by 18-year-olds.