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GOP To Gain Supermajority In NC House

April 5, 2023 by

Rep. Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County has indicated she will be switching from the Democrats to the Republicans. Speaker Tim Moore, Rep. Cotham, and other GOP leaders will be holding a press conference Wednesday morning to announce the switch.

You may remember she was vilified by Carolina Forward and other leftists for her excused absence on the day the veto override for SB 41 was held. Reportedly, she suffers from long COVID having had it three times and was scheduled to have treatment that day. She had notified by the Speaker and the Minority Leader of her planned absence.

I think the cartoon below shows why she might be making the switch.

Rep. Cecil Brockman (D-Guilford) who was also absent that day suggested how she was treated over the veto may have something to do with it.

From Axios:

Rep. Cecil Brockman, who is also a moderate Democrat, told the News & Observer he doesn’t blame Cotham and said he thought the reaction from Democrats drove her to switch parties.

“I think she just wanted to do what’s best for her district and when you’re constantly talked about and trashed — especially the way that we have been over the past few weeks — I think this is what happens,” Brockman said.

As might be expected, Democrats are calling for her to resign. The Charlotte Observer in a snarky editorial is calling it a betrayal of the voters. While I don’t have any confirmation of it, I have even heard she has received death threats which given how the Left operates would not surprise me.

I think if Rep. Brockman decided he had enough of the ill-treatment he would also be welcomed by the GOP. However, I think he would be trashed even worse than Rep. Cotham given he is an African-American. That is really sad.

UPDATE: This is a meme that Sean Sorrentino posted on Twitter. He is right – the Democrats in NC have gone hard left. It was why I left many years before Rep. Cotham.

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2023 NRA Board Of Director Election Results

April 3, 2023 by 2 Comments

I knew my friend and fellow co-host on The Polite Society Podcast, Amanda Suffecool, had been elected to the NRA Board of Directors. She had posted it on Facebook that she had been notified of her election.

As to the rest, I just received a copy of the results by order of finish.

ELECTED FOR THREE-YEAR TERMS ENDING IN 2026

1. Jay Printz

2. Charles L. Cotton

3. Leroy Sisco

4. Ted W. Carter

5. J. William Carter

6. Howard J. Walter

7. Thomas P. Arvas

8. Curtis S. Jenkins

9. Mark E. Vaughan

10. Judi White

11. Clel Baudler

12. Barbara Rumpel

13. Herbert A. Lanford, Jr.

14. Linda Walker

15. Steven C. Schreiner

16. Amanda Suffecool

17. J. Kenneth Blackwell

18. Robert E. Mansell

19. David A. Raney

20. Eb Wilkinson

21. Mark Keith Robinson

22. Carl Rowan, Jr.

23. Bruce Widener

24. Amy Heath Lovato

25. Patricia A. Clark

ELECTED FOR A TWO-YEAR TERM ENDING IN 2025

26. Isaac D. Demarest

NOT ELECTED — ELIGIBLE TO RUN FOR 76TH DIRECTOR

27. Charles R. Beers III

28. James Chapman

29. Rick Ector

Looking over the list, I’m happy for Amanda and feel bad for my friend Rick Ector. Few people on that list have done more than he at the grassroots level with his annual women’s training event in Detroit.

As to the results, other than Charles Cotton coming in second, there is no rhyme nor reason to the order of finish. Looking at two from North Carolina, how does an elderly hack like Howard “Walt” Walter come in 6th while current Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson come in 21st?

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Every Picture Tells A Story, Vol. 2, No. 2

April 3, 2023 by 5 Comments

The longest running series on this blog has been Every Picture Tells A Story which has been a collaboration between Rob Vance and myself. It started in October 2011 when Illinois was forced by the 7th Circuit to adopt concealed carry. I said at the time that shall-issue concealed carry was the new norm. The new norm now is permitless or unlicensed/unrestricted carry.

With the Bruen decision, we had to re-do the graphic as may issue was now off the table. At the time the graphic below was done, the formerly may-issue states had not begun to change their law to implement it with “all deliberate speed.” I am now calling this Every Picture Tells A Story, Vol. 2, No. 1. The numbering pattern of academic journals seems to be the most appropriate way to signify the evolution over time.

Of course, we now have states like New York that want to search years and years of your social media and other states like Maryland who want to expand the number of places you cannot carry. In essence, they are non-compliant with the Bruen decision. Eventually, one hopes the Supreme Court will slap down these states that are thumbing their nose at the Court.

In the meantime, here is Every Picture Tells A Story, Vol. 2, No. 2, which reflects the adoption of unlicensed concealed carry by the state of Florida today. I hope that this will change soon with the addition of Nebraska and perhaps one, if not both, of the Carolinas.

Rob added these stats to accompany the graphic:

26.8%Non-compliant with 2nd Amendment per Bruen (CA,CT,DC,HI,MD,MA,NJ,NY,RI)
0.0%No Issue
0.0%May Issue goes away Post-Bruen
30.6%Shall Issue (CO,DE,IL,LA,MI,MN,NC,NE,NM,NV,OR,PA,SC,VA,WA,WI)
42.6%Unlicensed concealed carry 

Almost three-fourths of all Americans now live in a state with either unlicensed concealed carry or shall-issue concealed carry. I never thought I’d see this when I started the blog in 2010 as only 48 states had any form of carry back then.

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Florida Becomes Number 26

April 3, 2023 by

With the stroke of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R-FL) pen, Florida became the 26th state to allow permitless carry. The law will become effective on July 1st. We now have a majority of US states that allow permitless carry including two of the three largest.

Lee Williams, The Gun Writer, who is also a member of the board of Florida Carry had this to say:

The new law allows law-abiding Floridians to carry concealed handguns without seeking a Concealed Weapon or Firearm License, or CWFL, from the government. However, the state’s successful CWFL program will remain in effect. Today, more than 2.4 million Floridians have a CWFL.

The new law does not include a training requirement, which was a major concern for its critics. But neither does it change who is eligible to either purchase or carry a firearm. Its proponents say it “levels the playing field” for law abiding Floridians.

CS/HB 54 does not allow for the open carry of arms, which is why some said the legislation is not “constitutional carry” and did not go far enough. 

The law was supported by NRA, GOA, NAGR and Florida Carry, Inc., pro-gun groups which have all promised to seek open carry legislation.

If there was ever a case of “don’t let perfect be the enemy of good” this was it. Getting permitless carry was the objective. Having true constitutional carry including unrestricted open carry would have been great but this is a great first step. It will become the stepping stone upon which open carry will eventually be approved.

Congratulations to all the civil rights activists in Florida who worked so hard and so long to get this passed. Thanks also goes to Gov. DeSantis for signing the bill and advancing the cause of the Second Amendment in the Sunshine State.

UPDATE: A photo of those that attended Gov. DeSantis’ signing of the bill. I notice a number of DC Project members in the photo.

Courtesy of Office of the Governor

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Permitless Carry Passes Florida Senate

March 31, 2023 by 3 Comments

HB 543 – Public Safety passed a final vote in the Florida Senate yesterday and was ordered engrossed as of this 8:35am EDT today (March 31, 2023). The bill provides for permitless carry of concealed firearms. The open carry amendments that would have made it a true constitutional carry bill failed earlier.

The vote in the Senate to approve this bill was 27 aye, 13 nay. Earlier, the Florida House had approved the bill by a 76 aye to 32 nay margin.

The enrolled bill now heads to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for his signature. He has indicated that he will sign it.

Congratulations to all those in Florida that have worked so hard to see this to completion. With the addition of Florida, over one-half of US states now allow permitless carry. This includes both the second and third largest states by population.

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Picture Of The Day

March 31, 2023 by 2 Comments

The picture of the day is of Speaker Tim Moore (R-NC) who is posing with the official copy of SB 41 signed and stamped with both “veto” and “override”. He looks like a happy camper. He and Senate President Phil Berger made North Carolina gun owners happy campers as well.

SB 41 is now officially known as SL 2023-8. SL stands for Session Law and the General Statues will be updated at the end of the session.

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ATF Is On It!

March 31, 2023 by 2 Comments

I just received an automated call from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. It was to inform me that effective March 29th, the North Carolina pistol purchase permit was no longer acceptable as a NICS check substitute given the passage of SB 41 into law.

The message went on to say that existing permits issued before the date of repeal would no longer be accepted in lieu of the NICS check. I guess those prohibited persons who obtained a permit prior to becoming a prohibited are now out of luck.

I received this call because I hold a Curios and Relics FFL. However, as a collector, I am not required to fill out the Form 4473 for a sale nor am I required to do a NICS check. The ATF must have lumped anyone who held any sort of FFL into one big database for the call.

The bottom line is we can be assured that the bureaucrats at ATF are on it! That being said, they have not issued a revised letter advising FFLs that the pistol purchase permit is no longer qualifies as an alternative to a NICS check. The only “Brady letter” for NC on their site is from 1998.

UPDATE: BATFE is into the belt and suspenders approach. In addition to the phone call this morning, they also sent out this email.

This is an important message from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On November 13, 1998, ATF issued an Open Letter to All North Carolina Federal Firearms Licensees advising them that the North Carolina pistol purchase permit qualifies as an alternative to NICS. On March 29, 2023, North Carolina Senate Bill 41 overcame the North Carolina Governor’s veto and became law that same day. North Carolina Senate Bill 41 repeals GS 14-402, which required the pistol purchase permit to acquire a pistol from an FFL. Additionally, the North Carolina pistol purchase permit is no longer considered an approved NICS alternate permit.

Accordingly, effective March 29, 2023 , North Carolina pistol purchase permits – regardless of when issued – may not be used as an alternative to the NICS background check requirement.

North Carolina’s concealed handgun permits are unaffected by Senate Bill 41 and will continue to serve as an alternative to a NICS check requirement. Please contact your local ATF office if you have additional questions.

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Veto Overriden; Pistol Purchase Permit Repealed! (Updated)

March 30, 2023 by 2 Comments

The North Carolina House of Representatives joined the Senate in voting to over-ride Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of SB 41. The vote was 71 aye, 46 nay, and 3 absent or not voting. The vote transcript has not been published as of this writing. I will update it later today when it is available.

SB 41 now goes into law. One of the everlasting stains of North Carolina’s segregationist, white surpremacist past is now erased. It only took 104 years. The Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit is now history.

Just as importantly, churches with attached private schools will be able to protect their congregations from those intent on doing evil. On the latter, the carrying of firearms is only allowed with church permission and only at times when students are not present including during extracurricular events.

I will be updating this post throughout the day with reactions.

UPDATE: The breakdown of the vote was finally posted yesterday. All 71 Republicans voted for the override. 46 Democrats voted no and 3 more had excused absences.

As I posted earlier, Carolina Forward wants Dems to eat their own. Interestingly, Rep. Cotham (D-Mecklenburg) says she had previously notified both the Speaker and Minority Leader she would be absent for a hospital procedure. Meanwhile, Rep. Brockman (D-Guilford) was reportedly being seen at an urgent care facility. Rep. Wray was an original sponsor of the repeal and it is thought this was his way of not voting “no”.

Rep. Willingham (D- Bertie, Edgecombe, & Martin) had previously voted for the bill and had said in reference to another bill that even with a veto he stuck by his vote. It is thought that knowing there would be two absences, he could vote no and be let off the hook by the Dems.

Bottom line, Speaker Tim Moore knew one way or another he had the votes going into yesterday morning.

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Stupidest Suggestion Of The Day

March 29, 2023 by

The North Carolina Democrats are all bent out of shape that the Republicans actually overrode a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC). The veto override of SB 41 marks the first time a veto has been overridden in NC since 2018 and the first on a gun bill.

Kate Frauenfelder is the Communications Director for the North Carolina Democrat Party. Today she sent out a press release with the stupidest suggestion of the day. You can see it below. As A. P. Dillon, a blogger and reporter for North State News, opined on Twitter, “What an incredible “Um, hi – you all must be new here” moment.” I normally would have agreed but it seems that Ms. Frauenfelder actually graduated high school in North Carolina and obtained her degree in journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Any reporter who actually asked that question should be laughed out of the room. I can give you three reasons why.

Number one – he would have signed the bill.

Number two – he is a member of the Board of Directors of the NRA.

Number three – he came to prominence with his impassioned speech before the Greensboro City Council over banning gun shows at the Greensboro Coliseum.

I’m still shaking my head over this one.

UPDATE: Stupid should hurt.

An appropriate response would be to send Ms. Frauenfelder (kate@ncdp.org) a copy of the YouTube video with Mark Robinson’s “I Am The Majority” speech. Here is the link and you can send an email directly from YouTube. Imagine when she goes to check her email and finds it full of that video.