The Republican-controlled legislature in North Carolina has overridden the Democratic governor’s veto, allowing residents to buy handguns without a permit from a local sheriff.
This eliminates the longstanding permit system requiring sheriffs to perform character evaluations and criminal history checks of pistol applicants. The permit repeal takes effect immediately.
Supporters of the bill argue that the sheriff screening process for handguns was no longer necessary in light of significant updates to the national background check system and that the permit system wasn’t very effective at preventing criminals from obtaining guns.
However, Cooper and Democratic lawmakers warned it allows a greater number of dangerous people to obtain weapons through private sales, which do not require a background check, and limits law enforcement’s ability to prevent them from committing violent crimes.
National Background Check
Those who purchase pistols from a gun store or a federally licensed dealer are still subject to a national background check, and concealed weapons permits are still required.
The North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association supports the repeal in light of national system updates, but its current president does not. Some Democrats did not vote on the override, creating enough of a margin to meet the constitutional requirement.
House Speaker Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican, presided over the chamber during the override vote, and said the provisions contained within the bill “have been long-standing goals of Second Amendment advocates in our state, and we have finally brought this legislation over the finish line.”
Cooper criticized the move by House leadership, saying in a tweet that arguments to uphold his veto would have been “too compelling for them to hear.”
Before the Senate vote, some Democrats urged against loosening gun access in the immediate aftermath of Monday’s mass shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville, despite Republicans’ insistence that lawmakers refrain from politicizing the shooting.
