H398 Archives -

The North Carolina House of Representatives passed H398 yesterday which repeals the state’s Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit. The repeal passed on a vote of 69-48 with three absences. The bill had the support of the NC Sheriffs’ Association.

Grass Roots North Carolina which has fought for the repeal for years released this statement:

By a vote of 69-48, today the NC House passed H. 398 to repeal our Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit system. Having passed one chamber before next week’s crossover deadline, the bill remains alive for action in the Senate. Grass Roots North Carolina has been the main advocate for the bill, having worked for nearly twenty years to repeal the archaic law.
GRNC president Paul Valone said, “Today, the North Carolina General Assembly has taken a step toward abolishing a vestige of the Jim Crow era which is being used by a small number of sheriffs to obstruct citizens from protecting their families, as well as bringing gun purchase background checks into the 21^st Century. GRNC would like to thank primary bill sponsor Rep. Jay Adams and Republican leadership. We would also like to thank the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association for its support.”

Looking at the breakdown of the vote, you had two Democrats and 67 Republicans voting for passage while 47 Democrats and one Republican opposed passage. The Democrats supporting passage of the bill were Rep. Shelly Willingham (D-Martin/Edgecombe), an African-American, and Rep. Michael Wray (D-Halifax/Northampton). The lone Republican who opposed the repeal was Rep. Dudley Greene (R-Avery/McDowell/Mitchell) who had previously served as sheriff of McDowell County.

My own representative, Rep. Brian Turner (D-Buncombe), is more concerned about allowing you to walk around downtown Asheville with a drink in your hands than about repealing a bill that was meant to discriminate against blacks. As The Animals sang in 1965, we gotta get out of this place!

If you live in North Carolina, go here to see if your representative thinks you still should be living under a law that was intended to curtail the rights of African-Americans or not.

That 1919 remnant of the Jim Crow era, North Carolina’s pistol purchase permit, may finally be on its way out. The North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association has finally endorsed its elimination and the House Judiciary 4 Committee voted out a bill that would do away with it.

Research published in the North Carolina Law Review showed that African-Americans were three times as likely to be denied than whites. This comes from a study of permits issued in Wake County where Sheriff Gerald Baker (D-Wake) is facing lawsuits for refusing to issue permits “due to COVID”.

This is not a done deal and I fully expect Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) to veto it. The law was intended to deny constitutional rights to African-Americans and its practice still does. Let him veto it and then try and defend that!

Since this is not a done deal, Grass Roots North Carolina is calling people to contact first Republicans and then later Democrats to pass this bill.

House Committee Passes Purchase Permit Repeal

Thanks to Reps. Jay Adams, Hugh Blackwell, Keith Kidwell, and George Cleveland, today the NC House Judiciary 4 Committee passed H398, a full repeal of North Carolina’s Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit (PPP) law – a law which not only allows some urban sheriffs to obstruct people from buying handguns for self-protection, but to this day also disproportionally denies minorities the ability to buy handguns for self-defense.

Not only are Republicans on board with repealing the racist law, but now the NC Sheriffs’ Association has joined them in supporting repeal. And who does that leave still supporting racist gun control? Democrats.
Said GRNC president Paul Valone:
“We are encouraged to see that the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association now agrees to bring gun purchases in North Carolina into the 21st Century by eliminating our Jim Crow-era permit system and requiring background checks at the point of sale. Given that a recent UNC School of Law paper found that in Wake County, black applicants are being denied permits three times more often than whites, it is clear that racism in issuing permits continues to this day. Consequently, we are calling upon Democrat legislators to join in repealing this racist law.”

Presuming the PPP repeal passes the General Assembly, anti-gun Democrat Governor Roy Cooper will certainly veto it. Because Republicans don’t have the 6/10 majority in either chamber that is required to over-ride Cooper’s veto, at least some Democrats will have to vote to over-ride.

Will Democrats do the right thing, or will they be the only ones left clinging to racist gun control? Please note that this message goes to Republicans.

Very soon, we will issue another alert with a message for Democrats.

EMAIL ALL NC HOUSE REPUBLICANS:  Please note that the large number of Republican recipients may require you to break up your message into multiple groups.
CALL YOUR NC HOUSE REP:  You can find your NC House rep by going to:

https://ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO GRNC: Help us fight gun control while we promote Second Amendment principles. Please CLICK HERE to contribute. Bear in mind that GRNC is an all-volunteer organization, so you can be sure your donations are put to the best possible use. Any amount helps, and any amount is appreciated.

CONTACT INFO

Copy each block of address and paste into an email

Edward.Goodwin@ncleg.gov; Larry.Yarborough@ncleg.gov; Steve.Tyson@ncleg.gov; Jimmy.Dixon@ncleg.gov; Bobby.Hanig@ncleg.gov; Matthew.Winslow@ncleg.gov; John.Bell@ncleg.gov; Chris.Humphrey@ncleg.gov; Pat.McElraft@ncleg.gov; Phil.Shepard@ncleg.gov; Carson.Smith@ncleg.gov; Frank.Iler@ncleg.gov; Charles.Miller@ncleg.gov; Ted.Davis@ncleg.gov; William.Brisson@ncleg.gov; Donna.White@ncleg.gov; Larry.Strickland@ncleg.gov;

Erin.Pare@ncleg.gov; Diane.Wheatley@ncleg.gov; John.Szoka@ncleg.gov; Brenden.Jones@ncleg.gov; Graig.Meyer@ncleg.gov; John.Sauls@ncleg.gov; Jamie.Boles@ncleg.gov; Howard.Penny@ncleg.gov; Mark.Brody@ncleg.gov; Jon.Hardister@ncleg.gov;

John.Faircloth@ncleg.gov; Dennis.Riddell@ncleg.gov; Jerry.Carter@ncleg.gov; Ben.Moss@ncleg.gov; Wayne.Sasser@ncleg.gov; David.Willis@ncleg.gov; Dean.Arp@ncleg.gov; Pat.Hurley@ncleg.gov; Lee.Zachary@ncleg.gov; Jeff.Zenger@ncleg.gov; Donny.Lambeth@ncleg.gov; Harry.Warren@ncleg.gov; Julia.Howard@ncleg.gov; Allen.McNeill@ncleg.gov; Sam.Watford@ncleg.gov; Larry.Potts@ncleg.gov; Kristin.Baker@ncleg.gov; Dudley.Greene@ncleg.gov; Hugh.Blackwell@ncleg.gov; Destin.Hall@ncleg.gov; Mitchell.Setzer@ncleg.gov; Sarah.Stevens@ncleg.gov

Kyle.Hall@ncleg.gov; Ray.Pickett@ncleg.gov; Jeffrey.Elmore@ncleg.gov; Grey.Mills@ncleg.gov; Jason.Saine@ncleg.gov; John.Bradford@ncleg.gov; John.Torbett@ncleg.gov; Dana.Bumgardner@ncleg.gov; Kelly.Hastings@ncleg.gov; Tim.Moore@ncleg.gov; David.Rogers@ncleg.gov; Jake.Johnson@ncleg.gov; Tim.Moffitt@ncleg.gov; Mark.Pless@ncleg.gov; Mike.Clampitt@ncleg.gov; Karl.Gillespie@ncleg.govsomebody@ncleg.net

DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

Suggested Subject: “Repeal our racist pistol purchase permit law”

Dear NC House Representative:

As stated by NC Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director Eddie Caldwell in the Judiciary 4 Committee, the association now supports the repeal of our Jim-Crow era pistol purchase permit system. Describing recent improvements to North Carolina reporting to the computerized National Instant Background Check System (NICS), Caldwell described the archaic and racist permit law as “duplicative.”

A recent UNC Law School paper noted that in Wake County alone, from 2015 to 2020, black applicants were denied permits at a rate three times that of whites, demonstrating that racism in the permit law continues to this day. In early 2020, Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker decided to stop issuing permits altogether in violation of G.S. 14-404(f), which requires permits to be issued to qualified applicants within 14 days. In other urban North Carolina counties, permits are still being delayed by weeks, even months.

Finally, purchase permits remain valid for 5 years, raising the possibility that an individual could obtain a permit, commit a crime and then, once disqualified from buying a firearm, use the 5-year-old permit to bypass NICS.

I strongly urge you to support the repeal of our archaic, racist, and obstructionist pistol purchase permit law. I will be monitoring this issue through Grass Roots North Carolina legislative alerts.

Respectfully,

H398

Pistol Purchase Permit Repeal Passes NC House

NC’s Pistol Purchase Permit May Be Eliminated