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Permitless Carry In NC Needs Your Help

June 9, 2025

by John Richardson

SB 50 – Freedom to Carry NC – has passed the NC Senate and has now passed out of the NC House Judiciary 2 Committee. It is now in the House Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Committee which is the last step before coming to the floor of North Carolina House. It is thought it could be voted on in committee ~~either~~ Tuesday, June 10th~~, or Wednesday, June 11th~~.

Update: The bill is on the Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House Committee schedule for tomorrow, June 10th.

Grass Roots North Carolina released the following alert asking for people to contact the Rules Committee to urge its passage.

TELL HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE
REPUBLICANS TO PASS SB50

Senate Bill 50 (“Freedom to Carry NC”) is likely on to get a hearing in the Rules Committee on Tuesday June 10, 2025.

That’s the good news. We know that the Dems are planning stiff opposition to this bill and will likely throw all their underhanded tactics to slow it down and defeat it. You can be sure the anti-gun lobby will be present in numbers to try and defeat liberty.

We need you to remind the Rules Committee Republicans who “brung ’em to the dance,” and tell them what you expect them to do.

We also need you to show up and let them know we’re serious about getting this passed. Location and directions below.

Remind them that we were denied permitless carry in 2023… We expect it in 2025.

This is just one more necessary step to make North Carolina the 30th state to adopt permitless carry. Given that one of the license plate slogans in North Carolina is “First in Freedom”, it is time to pass this bill.

Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC) has signaled that he intends to veto the bill if passed.

However, the bill’s path to law faces a major roadblock if it successfully passes through the House: Democratic Gov. Josh Stein. On Tuesday, Stein suggested to reporters that he would veto it if it passes the House, which could be his first veto since taking office in January.

“My standard reviewing any piece of legislation is, will this make us safer?” Stein said when asked about Senate Bill 50. “I don’t know what the version of the bill is today. I was going to see what they ultimately do with this bill. If it doesn’t make us safer – and the previous version certainly did not – I cannot support it.”

I don’t think this is a surprise to anyone who has followed firearms politics in North Carolina in recent years. Democrats have been fairly united in opposing any measure aimed at removing any of the restrictions on firearm rights. Whether it was allowing churches with attached private schools to protect their congregations or removing the Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permits, they have voted as a bloc. Indeed, their treatment of any legislator such as Rep. Tricia Cotham who was absent for the vote on these bills was so vindictive that it proved to be counter-productive.

With the Republicans only one vote short of a super-majority in the House and holding a super-majority in the Senate, timing is going to be the key to overriding the veto. All it will take is 2-3 Democrats being absent on the day the override is brought forward for it be successful.

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Del-Ton Closing Its Doors

April 23, 2025

by John Richardson 2 Comments

Long-time AR maker Del-Ton, Inc. is closing its doors. Founded in 1998 in Fayetteville, NC during the middle of the Clinton assault-weapons ban, Del-Ton was a stalwart of the entry-level of the AR market. They later moved to Elizabethton which is about half-way between Fayetteville and Wilmington in Bladen County.

They have posted this announcement on their website:

Thank You For Your Support – Del-Ton is Closing.

As Del-Ton prepares to close its doors, we want to take a moment to express our deepest gratitude to the incredible people who have been part of our journey.

To our loyal customers: Your trust in our products and support of our mission has been the cornerstone of our success. Every purchase, every kind word, and every moment spent using our products has meant the world to us.

To our vendors and partners: Your collaboration, innovation, and shared commitment have been invaluable in helping us deliver quality and reliability to our customers.

To our dedicated employees: You are the heart and soul of Del-Ton. Your hard work, passion, and unwavering commitment have shaped our legacy and built a company we can all be proud of.

Together, we’ve achieved so much, and though this chapter is ending, the memories, partnerships, and friendships will remain. Thank you for being part of the Del-Ton story.

With heartfelt appreciation,

The Del-Ton Team .

The entry-level or low-end of the AR market has gotten increasingly competitive with makers like Palmetto State Armory and Anderson going head-to-head with Del-Ton. According to the 2022 AFMER manufacturing report posted on the ATF website, Palmetto made four times as many finished rifles as Del-Ton. Similarly, Anderson dominated in the unfinished lower market with almost 150,000 unfinished AR lowers to Del-Ton’s zero. If you are having to compete on price and not quality, the bigger manufacturers with their economies of scale will dominate.

I don’t know if this is the beginning of a realignment in the firearms industry or just the “Trump Slump”. Nonetheless, it is sad to see any firearms company go out of business.

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It Is All In The Wording Of The Question

April 2, 2025

by John Richardson

I received a press release this afternoon from Everytown saying 77% of North Carolinians oppose permitless carry. They are basing this on a poll by Elon University on behalf of Everytown.

Today, Everytown for Gun Safety released recent polling that shows a significant majority (77%) of residents in North Carolina oppose permitless carry. This comes as lawmakers are attempting to pass HB 5 and SB 50, bills that would dismantle North Carolina’s existing concealed carry permitting laws and allow individuals to carry concealed, hidden guns in public spaces without a permit—effectively eliminating all safeguards put in place by the current permitting system, including a background check, safety training, and live-fire training.

One advantage of my years ago graduate training in political science is that I know the results are all dependent upon how you word the question.

So how did the Elon University poll word the question and what were the real results?

Currently, North Carolina requires a permit to carry a concealed handgun. This permit involves an application fee, safety training and a background check. The General Assembly is considering a change to allow concealed carry without a permit. Do you support or oppose removing the requirement of a permit to legally carry a concealed handgun?

The actual opposition based upon the poll question was 54% and not the aforementioned 77%. Republicans and independents were more likely than Democrats to support permitless concealed carry.

I wonder what the results might have been if the third sentence read, “The General Assembly is considering a change to allow concealed carry without a permit like 29 other states.” The question could have gone on to add that open carry without a permit is a constitutional right in North Carolina thanks to State v. Kerner (1921).

According to Elon University, they surveyed 800 people and the poll has a margin of error of 4%. Other questions in the poll dealt with the renaming of Fort Liberty back to Fort Bragg, tax rates, response to Hurricane Helene, trust in the NC Supreme Court, and approval of Gov. Josh Stein (D-NC). Nowhere in the release on the poll does it give the actual numbers of people sampled by party, race, or sex. In other words, we do not know if the poll was overweighted with Democrats or women who were more likely to favor gun control.

While polls do have their usefulness, constitutional rights should never be governed by polls or popular opinion.

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S.50-Freedom To Carry NC Passes NC Senate (Updated)

March 20, 2025

by John Richardson

The permitless concealed carry bill, S.50 – Freedom to Carry NC, passed the NC Senate on a 27-17 vote and has been sent to the House. The actual roll call is not up yet to see who made up the six missing votes.

In other news, the House’s complementary bill H5 has been referred to the House Rules, Calendar, and Operations Committee. Their calendar is not up so we can’t see when it will be heard by them.

As soon as the Senate roll call is released, I will have it up here.

UPDATE: The Senate roll call for the 2nd Reading of S.50 is now posted. The final vote was 26-18 on a straight party line vote. Given excused absences were Democrats Applewhite and Chaudhuri and Republicans Barnes, P. Newton, Rabon, and Sawyer. When it comes to overriding the expected veto all Republican must be there and voting in the affirmative.

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We Can’t Let The Proles Carry Without Our Permission Slip!

March 20, 2025

by John Richardson

On the heels of S. 50 – Freedom to Carry NC passing out of the NC Senate Rules Committee came a press release issued early yesterday evening. It is from Everytown and their assorted groups announcing a rally in Raleigh to protest permitless concealed carry. The thought of the unwashed masses exercising their fundamental Constitutional rights to protect their families and themselves is anathema to them.

They plan to hold a “press conference” in Raleigh this afternoon at 2pm. In their release it asks the press to reach out to them if they want to speak with a volunteer or a “policy expert”.

They then say:

SB 50 is a dangerous bill that would allow the concealed carry of handguns for those as young as 18 without a permit, meaning no background check, safety training, or live-firing experience will be required.

This is followed up by spurious statistics proclaiming that blood will run in the streets. That, of course, is something that has not happened in the other 29 states that have adopted some form of permitless concealed carry.

The speakers will be the usual suspects including two state senators who didn’t even bother to appear in opposition before the Senate Rules Committee yesterday. The lead speaker is Gerald Givens, Jr. who from his website appears to have made gun control into a career. While I may thank him for his military service, I would also remind him of the oath he took to protect the Constitution.

I will give the gun prohibitionists this. Their reaction time is great. They must have an army of PR flacks just waiting for moments like this.

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NC Legislators: Advance SB50 and HB5 Now!

February 24, 2025

by John Richardson 2 Comments

With Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Guilford, Rockingham) as a co-sponsor of SB50, permitless concealed carry is on the move in North Carolina. This is a big switch from 2023 when Berger said enough pro-gun bills had been passed.

As the Grass Roots North Carolina alert below makes clear, you can help move these bills along. You may need to change the delimiter between email addresses to fit your own email program’s preferences. This is easy to do in MS Word using find and replace. Additionally, I’d suggest using BCC when mailing to the legislators urging the two bills passage in each chamber’s Rules Committee.

From GRNC:

MAKE CONSTITUTIONAL
CARRY NC LAW

Senate Bill 50 (“Freedom to Carry NC”) and House Bill 5 (“NC Constitutional Carry”) are in the process of becoming NC law. We are so thankful to Sen.Berger and Rep Kidwell for their sponsorship and support in this pursuit.

GRNC has been pivotal in this endeavour as we presented a 7,000-signature petition to Berger in a press conference at his office, and thousands of emails were sent to legislators by GRNC supporters.

Additional sponsors for HB 5 are Reps. Jay Adams (R-Catawba, ****), Ben Moss (R-Moore, Richmond, ****) and freshman Brian Echevarria (R-Cabarrus, ****). Additional sponsors for SB 50 are Sens. Danny Britt (R-Hoke, Robeson, Scotland, GRNC ****), Warren Daniel (R-Buncombe, Burke, McDowell ****), and Eddie Settle (R-Alexander, Surry, Wilkes, Yadkin, ****). Both bills are currently in their respective Rules, Calendar and Operations committees.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

IMMEDIATELY CONTACT REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP: Contact both Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and Speaker Destin Hall to thank them for their support and urge them to give prompt committee hearings to HB 5 and SB 50. Use the links provided in the previous sentence for their contact information. Call and/or email the two leaders to thank them and to encourage them to advance these bills.

IMMEDIATELY CONTACT ALL RULES COMMITTEE REPUBLICANS: Both Rules Committees (for House and Senate) need to hear loud and clear that you want a prompt committee hearing for HB 5 and SB 50. See contact information below.

Please send two messages. Below, find two copy-paste email lists, one for the House and one for the Senate. Below that, find the copy-paste email message.

DONATE TO GRNC: We are still low on funds after our highly successful election effort. Please donate by going to: grnc.org/wp/2012/06/donate-to-or-join-grnc/ NC HOUSE Rules Committee (copy-paste email list):

Reece.Pyrtle@ncleg.gov; Blair.Eddins@ncleg.gov; Brenden.Jones@ncleg.gov; Charles.Miller@ncleg.gov; Donna.White@ncleg.gov; Erin.Pare@ncleg.gov; Jimmy.Dixon@ncleg.gov; John.Torbett@ncleg.gov; John.Bell@ncleg.gov; Karl.Gillespie@ncleg.gov; Kelly.Hastings@ncleg.gov; Kyle.Hall@ncleg.gov; Neal.Jackson@ncleg.gov; Sarah.Stevens@ncleg.gov; Steve.Tyson@ncleg.gov; Ted.Davis@ncleg.gov; Tricia.Cotham@ncleg.gov; William.Brisson@ncleg.gov

NC SENATE Rules Committee (copy-paste email list):

Amy.Galey@ncleg.gov; Benton.Sawrey@ncleg.gov; Bill.Rabon@ncleg.gov; Brent.Jackson@ncleg.gov; Danny.Britt@ncleg.gov; Lisa.Barnes@ncleg.gov; Michael.Lazzara@ncleg.gov; Michael.Lee@ncleg.gov; Norman.Sanderson@ncleg.gov; Paul.Newton@ncleg.gov; Ralph.Hise@ncleg.gov; Todd.Johnson@ncleg.gov; Tom.McInnis@ncleg.gov; Vickie.Sawyer@ncleg.gov; Warren.Daniel@ncleg.gov

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Suggested Subject: “Advance Constitutional Carry Bills HB 5 & SB 50” Dear Rules Committee Members:

As a Grass Roots North Carolina member, I thank you for your support and strongly urge you to give a prompt committee hearing to permitless or “constitutional” carry bills HB 5 and SB 50.

Fully 29 states have already adopted constitutional carry, with none of its naysayers’ dire predictions coming true. In fact, the Crime Prevention Research Center finds a small but significant reduction in violent crime among states which adopt permitless carry.

North Carolina Republicans are now lagging their counterparts in other states. Accordingly, I strongly urge you to bring constitutional carry to a prompt committee hearing and floor vote.

I will be monitoring your actions through Grass Roots North Carolina legislative alerts.

Respectfully,

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For North Carolinians From GRNC-PVF

October 11, 2024

by John Richardson

Grass Roots North Carolina-Political Victory Fund reminds all North Carolinians that today is the last day to regularly register to vote in the November General Election. Registration closes at 5pm this afternoon. However, if you miss this deadline, you can still register to vote if you take advantage of early voting up through November 2nd.

Other deadlines:

Oct. 11 (5 PM): Deadline for voter registration or to update registration (e.g. for an address change). Click here for details. To check your voter registration, click here. Note: If you are registered as “unaffiliated,” you may vote in either the Democrat or Republican primary election. [Important note: If you miss this deadline, you can still vote using one stop early voting.]

Oct. 17: General Election one stop early voting begins. Click here for details. Click here to find your One Stop Early Voting place.

Oct. 29 (5 PM): Last day to submit an absentee ballot request form. Click here for information on voting by mail.

Nov. 2 (3 PM): In-person one stop early voting ends. This is last day you can both register and vote at same time.

Nov. 5 (6:30 AM – 7:30 PM): Election Day: Click here to find your polling place on Election Day.

Nov. 5 (5 PM): Absentee ballot return deadline.

Reportedly, over 10 million hunters are not registered to vote. Presumably most are gun owners. Even if they aren’t, policies of the Biden-Harris administration have not been friendly to either gun owners or hunters. Whether it is closing land to hunting or banning lead ammunition on certain wildlife refuges, they have not had the interests of hunters at heart. If you are one of these unregistered voters, it is time to get off your ass and register to vote. And then vote like your guns and your hunting rights depend on them because they do.

The GRNC-PVF has also released their recommendations for the 2024 General Election. You can download the whole list here.

I would note that in both my State Senate and State House districts the Republican challengers to the zero-star Democrat incumbents didn’t bother to return GRNC’s survey. How damn stupid can you be not to take advantage of something that differentiates you from your opponent and might give you a point or two more votes. The GOP is not known as the Stupid Party without reason.

Likewise, in two Council of State races, the Republican didn’t bother to return the GRNC survey. In the case of Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey (R-NC), he faces vehemently anti-gun State Sen. Natasha Marcus (D-Mecklenburg). I have written about Marcus in the past. She proudly proclaims her membership in Moms Demand Action and has tried to distort the racist history of the origins of the pistol purchase permit. You can imagine what she might do to gun owners if given the power of the Insurance Commissioner’s office.

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Remember In November

September 17, 2024

by John Richardson 3 Comments

Grass Roots North Carolina has a biennial project whereby they evaluate candidates at the national and state levels on where they stand on gun rights. Candidates are rated from zero to four stars with four stars being the best. The evaluation process uses any votes the candidate may have taken plus their responses to a survey sent to every candidate at their registered office. It is called Remember in November.

This guide estimates where candidates stand on gun issues by comparing their views with those of a control group of gun owners. As noted below, a “4-STAR” candidate agrees with the control group on at least 90% of gun issues, a 3-STAR agrees on least 80%, a 2-STAR on at least 70%, a 1-STAR on at least 60%, and a 0-STAR candidate agrees on less than 60% of gun issues….

GRNC’s “Remember in November” project estimates candidates’ views on “assault weapons,” concealed handguns, gun storage laws, gun rationing, other gun control and the Second Amendment. THE EVALUATIONS HEREIN ARE NOT ENDORSEMENTS. We issued surveys first to a control group of gun owners and then to candidates. Next, we measured how closely each candidate’s views and voting record (if available) agree with the control group. Pay more attention to voting records than survey results unless, of course, you believe politicians never lie.

The 2024 General Election candidate evaluations have been released. If you want to view by office and name, use this link. If you would prefer to have the higher ranked candidates for each office, use this link. I find the latter more useful myself.

It should be pointed out that if a candidate just blows off the survey, they will get a zero star rating as well they should. Most of the candidates blowing off the survey tend to be the Democrats. That said, you do get Republicans who should be pro-rights just ignoring it as well. See for example both Dave Boliek (R) for State Auditor and Mike Causey (R) for Insurance Commissioner. They are both zero stars as they didn’t return the survey. Likewise for Sherry Higgins who is running as the Republican in my state house district. In my opinion, this is foolish. In a close race every vote is needed and ignoring gun rights voters could be the difference between winning and losing. These are the type of Republicans that whoever coined the term for the GOP as the Stupid Party had in mind.

While the higher rated candidates tend to be either Republicans or Libertarians, I did find a race where both the Republican and Democrat were both 4-star rated. That was in State Senate District 9 located in southeastern North Carolina. Incumbent Republican Brent Jackson faces Democrat Jamie Campbell Bowles. Both are from Sampson County. I’m wondering if Ms. Bowles didn’t get the Democrat’s memo that guns are icky or just ignored it. I’m so old I remember when there was actually such a thing as a pro-gun Democrat.

One last thing. If you aren’t registered to vote, now is the time to do it! As someone who registered to vote on my 18th birthday, it always amazes me when I come across gun owners who are not registered to vote. I just can’t see leaving my rights at risk by not voting.

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Self-Defense Law Webinar In North Carolina

May 5, 2024

by John Richardson

I think the following webinar being offered by the UNC School of Government will be of interest to anyone who is armed for self-protection in North Carolina.

From the description:

The law of self-defense in North Carolina received a jolt from State v. McLymore, 380 N.C. 185 (2022), where the North Carolina Supreme Court held that the only way to claim perfect self-defense is by invoking the statutory right created by G.S. 14-51.3. The Court went on to say, however, that to the extent the statute does not address an aspect of the law of self-defense, the common law remains intact. This webinar examines the basic principles of self-defense in North Carolina under four headings: (1) aggressor status, (2) degree of force, (3) proportional response, and (4) reclaiming the privilege. It aims to place McLymore in the broader context of the common law, so that practitioners will know what aspects of the law are “supplanted” by the statutory right of self-defense, what aspects are still governed by the common law, and what aspects remain unsettled to be determined by future caselaw.

The webinar is being offered on Wednesday, May 15th at 10:30am. The cost is FREE! Attendance is limited to 300 persons and registration closes on Friday, May 10th at 5pm.

The link to register is here. I found the registration was straightforward and easy. It does make reference to billing which is not an issue here as the cost is zero.

Even if you don’t or can’t attend the webinar, I think you will find the following flow chart that accompanies the webinar helpful.

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North Carolina Runoff Primary

April 29, 2024

by John Richardson

Early voting in the North Carolina GOP runoff primary started this past Thursday. If what the Complementary Spouse and I experienced is any indication, turnout will be sparse. We went to vote on Friday and were the 16th and 17th voters in a county with almost 45,000 registered Republicans! This doesn’t even count the number of unaffiliated voters who are also eligible to vote in the GOP primary.

Other counties may have a higher turnout as they may have a Congressional candidate for whom to vote. In Buncombe County, it was only the race for Lt. Governor and the race for State Auditor.

As a reminder, the Grass Roots North Carolina – Political Victory Fund has these recommendations:

US 6th Congressional District – Addison McDowell – his opponent Mark Walker has dropped out but there still may have a runoff.
US 13th Congressional District – Brad Knott
Lt. Governor – Hal Weatherman
State Auditor – none as neither candidate in the runoff submitted GRNC-PVF candidates surveys.

While there is no recommendation by GRNC-PVF for State Auditor, I would note that Jack Clark is a CPA and former auditor while his opponent Dave Boliek, an attorney, only recently became a Republican. You can make of that what you will.