As the state House of Representatives considers improvements made in the state Senate to House Bill 937, the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association (NCSA) continues to oppose the provision in this bill that repeals the antiquated permit to purchase a handgun requirement. Gun owners, sportsmen and Second Amendment supporters across the Tar Heel State need to continue to actively work against this effort.
Please call your county sheriff and urge her or him to support the Senate version of H 937, which includes repeal of the permit to purchase. Also urge your county sheriff to contact Governor Pat McCrory (R) and say that the NCSA’s position on permit to purchase does not reflect their views.
Contact information for Governor Pat McCrory:
(919) 814-2000
In order to purchase a handgun in North Carolina, one must pass a background check and obtain a “handgun purchase permit” at their county sheriff’s office. This permit is then presented to a licensed firearms dealer and the transaction can be completed. This archaic system creates a de facto waiting period for handgun purchases. One county is reporting that the process to obtain a permit to purchase can take approximately thirty days! North Carolinians should not be forced to wait thirty days to exercise a constitutional right due to an obsolete system. This permit to purchase system was enacted nearly a century ago, before the days of computers and criminal databases, and needs to be repealed! Over forty other states now rely on the more efficient National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) for handgun purchases, and North Carolina needs to do the same.
North Carolina's permit to purchase law is outdated, inefficient and unconstitutionally vague, and it must be repealed!