confidentiality of permits Archives -

Permit Confidentiality And Restaurant Carry Set For NC House Hearings

HB 17, the Gun Permits/Restaurants and Confidentiality, comes before the North Carolina House’s Judiciary A Committee on Wednesday for hearings. Both parts of this bill – confidentiality and restaurant carry – are important. Grass Roots North Carolina has heard a rumor that the committee might strip out the restaurant carry provisions. Restaurant carry passed the House in the previous session of the General Assembly but died in the Senate for lack of a floor vote.

From GRNC:

Ensure that restaurant carry survives!

This critical pro-feedom legislation will solve two significant problems facing North Carolina gun owners: (1) Not being able to defend ourselves and our families in restaurants that serve alcohol, and (2) Being subject to the release of personal information by hostile media, as was done previously in both NC and NY.

HB-17 is currently residing within House Judiciary Subcommittee A. It is scheduled to be heard this Wednesday. Rumors suggest there are efforts to strip out restaurant carry provisions. We must MAKE SURE this DOES NOT HAPPEN!

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

Quickly Email Republican Members of Judiciary Committee A. Tell them to oppose all efforts to weaken the bill by eliminating the restaurant carry provisions.

Plan to Attend the Judiciary Meeting. Show your Representatives in person that you strongly support restaurant carry and that you strongly oppose the release of personal information about concealed carry permit holders!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Copy and paste email addresses for House Judiciary Committee A: John.Blust@ncleg.net, Jacqueline.Schaffer@ncleg.net, Dean.Arp@ncleg.net, Hugh.Blackwell@ncleg.net, Justin.Burr@ncleg.net, Leo.Daughtry@ncleg.net, Jon.Hardister@ncleg.net, Julia.Howard@ncleg.net, Allen.McNeill@ncleg.net, Bob.Steinburg@ncleg.net

To attend the Judiciary Committee A meeting, follow these directions on GRNC.org: http://grnc.org/directions-to-the-general-assembly

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Dear Member of Judiciary Committee A:

HB-17, “Gun Permits/Restaurants & Confidentiality” is a critical piece of pro-freedom legislation that will expand the area in our state where law-abiding citizens can effectively protect themselves and their families.

By preventing the release of personal information, HB-17 will also protect law-abiding holders of concealed carry permits from unconscionable attacks by hostile media. As you may know, in other states the release of this type of sensitive personal information has resulted in law-abiding gun owners being targeted by criminals.

I expect you to support this important bill entirely, without any weakening amendments. Efforts to strip out any element related to restaurant carry are unacceptable.

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

Respectfully,

On Keeping Gun Permit/CHP Data Private In North Carolina

There are currently two bills before the North Carolina General Assembly that would keeping pistol purchase permit and Concealed Handgun Permit data private. They are HB 17 which deals with confidentiality and restaurant carry and SB 28 which deals strictly with confidentiality.

Two weeks ago, the Senate Judiciary II Committee held hearings on SB 28. This bill is strongly supported by both gun rights groups such as Grass Roots North Carolina and the NC Sheriffs Association. On the other side is the NC Press Association which wants to keep this data as a public record and accessible through freedom of information requests.

Below is a report on the hearing from the NCSA Weekly Legislative Report dated February 22nd.

Gun Permit Records

The Senate Judiciary II Committee had a lively deba
te this week but didn
‘t vote on a bill that
would exempt pistol purchase permits, concealed
carry permits, and pistol sales records from
disclosure under the public records law. Under Senate Bill 28, the information would be available
only upon request of law enforcement
agencies or by court order, while exempting it from the Public
Records Act. The legislation wouldn’t apply to
long guns and other rifles because those weapons
don’t require purchase permits.

The bill sponsor, Senator Stan Bingham, said th
e measure was aimed at reducing gun thefts.
He argued that criminals may target homes wher
e they know there are guns for the taking. Gregg
Stahl, Director of Government Relations for the
N.C. Sheriffs’ Association, told the legislative
committee that sheriffs across the state have also
heard from residents w
ho don’t own guns who fear
they would be targeted for thefts
as well. “The list of gun owners
also tells us where there are no
guns,” Stahl said.

Opponents argued that they had seen no data to suggest that criminals are using public
information about gun ownership to help commit crimes. John Bussian, a lobbyist for the N.C. Press
Association, told the committee that he was opposing “yet another government records secrecy bill.”
Some of the best media reporting across the count
ry on the flow of arms, he said, has been done
using the types of records that the bill would exempt from the Public Records Act.

But others, including lobbyists for the N.C. Ri
fle and Pistol Association and the N.C.
Firearms Dealers Group, supported the bill. Michael
Mann of the Rifle and Pi
stol Association said he believed there was “no legitimate reason” for anyone to have access to detailed information about
gun owners. Professional burglars, he said, look for items they can steal and dispose of quickly,
such as cash, jewelry and guns.

The Charlotte Observer has noticed this fight. They published a long article on it along with an editorial opposing this bill. I will have more on that in a later post.

As to the pistol purchase permits themselves, I’d like to see them eliminated. They are a relic of Jim Crow laws in North Carolina. The permit was instituted in 1919 and was a way to allow racist sheriffs to keep handguns out of the hands of blacks.