North Carolina: Pro-Gun Omnibus Bill Advances to Senate

Please contact your state Senator TODAY and politely urge them to support HB 562!

On Wednesday, June 17, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed House Bill 562 on a bipartisan 78-37 vote.  HB 562 now moves to the Senate where NRA will work to ensure passage of this bill that would advance Second Amendment rights for North Carolinians.  Although permit-to-purchase repeal has been removed because of misinformation put out by the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association, this legislation contains many pro-gun provisions, such as:

• Requiring the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) of a jurisdiction to certify the transfer or making of a firearm in a timely manner.
  
  
• Clarifying the exemption for keeping a firearm in a vehicle by a person with a valid Concealed Handgun Permit while the vehicle is on the property of a public school.
  
  
• Establishing an affirmative defense for an individual in certain situations where he or she uses a firearm on prohibited school property "in response to a threatening situation in which deadly force was justified..."
  
  
• Improving the existing Range Protection Law, which would help to protect established shooting ranges from new local ordinances designed to shut them down.
  
  
• Improving the issuing process and removing unnecessary disqualifiers for Concealed Handgun Permits (CHP).
  
  
• Lowering the penalty for carrying a firearm with a valid CHP on posted property from a misdemeanor to an infraction.
  
  
• Removing the prohibition on using a lawfully possessed short barreled rifle for hunting
  
  
• Strengthening North Carolina’s preemption statute.

Please write or call your State Senator and urge him or her to work with NRA to pass HB 562.