by As Matt Caulder of the NC Capitol Connection reports, HB 562 just barely squeaked through the House Rules Committee.
A vote in the House Rules Committee came down to a tie Wednesday morning after nearly two hours of debate and comment on an omnibus gun rights bill set to advance freedoms for legal firearm owners while cracking down on criminal possession of firearms.
The 13-13 tie was broken by Committee Chairman David Lewis (R-Harnett) in favor of the bill, which will now head to the House floor for debate.
A vote is expected on the bill Thursday on the House floor.
He goes on to report that the testimony was evenly split between those in favor of the bill and those opposed. In an email to me, he said there were representatives from Everytown Moms for Illegal Mayors, the Brady affiliate NC Against Gun Violence (sic), the NC Sheriffs Association, and the NC School Boards Association who spoke against the bill In addition, there were some individuals who didn’t represent groups but did claim membership in NCAGV.
Matt was kind enough to send me the breakdown of the vote in the committee by member. What should have been an easy win was made more difficult due to some Republicans. I expected “nay” votes from the Democrats. What I didn’t expect was for Republicans Leo Daughtry, Ted Davis, and John Fraley to spit on gun owners like they did. Gun owners did yeoman’s work in providing the Republicans their super-majority in both houses of the General Assembly. We didn’t vote for them to go all wobbly when the Demanding Mommies and the Sheriffs Association said “boo.”
The vote breakdown is below:
Committee Leadership
Rep. Lewis (R-Harnett) – aye, tie breaker
Rep. Torbett (R-Gaston) – aye
Rep. Stam (R-Wake) – aye
Rep. Davis (R-New Hanover) – nay
Rep. Daughtry (R-Johnston) – nay
Committee Members
Rep. J. Bell (R-Wayne) – aye
Rep. Blust (R-Guilford) – aye
Rep. Boles (R-Moore) – aye
Rep. Bumgardner (R-Gaston) – aye
Rep. Burr (R-Stanly) – aye
Rep. Carney (D-Mecklenburg) – nay
Rep. Cotham (D-Mecklenburg) – nay
Rep. Floyd (D-Cumberland) – nay
Rep. Fraley (R-Iredell) – nay
Rep. Goodman (D-Hoke) – nay
Rep. L. Hall (D-Durham) – nay
Rep. Hanes (D-Forsyth) – nay
Rep. Hastings (R-Gaston) – aye
Rep. Jackson (D-Wake) – nay
Rep. L. Johnson (R-Cabarrus) – aye
Rep. Reives (D-Chatham) – nay
Rep. Robinson (R-Caldwell) – aye
Rep. Saine (R-Saine) – aye
Rep. Schaffer (R-Mecklenburg) – aye
Rep. Szoka (R-Cumberland) – aye
Rep. Tine (U-Beaufort) – nay
Rep. Wray (D-Halifax) – nay
What makes this worse is that all three Republicans serve in some leadership capacity. Davis and Daughtry are vice-chairs of the Rules Committee and Fraley is the Majority Freshman Leader. If I were one of their constituents, I’d be giving them a piece of my mind. Their contact info is below.
Ted Davis (R-New Hanover)
919-733-5786
ted.davis@ncleg.net
N. Leo Daughtry (R-Johnston)
919-733-5605
leo.daughtry@ncleg.net
John Fraley (R-Iredell)
919-733-5741
john.fraley@ncleg.net
I wish the House Republicans including those above were less concerned with same-sex marriage and waiting periods for abortions and more with facilitating an enumerated Constitution right.
UPDATE: Checking the NRA’s Political Victory Fund site for 2014, I find that Davis, Daughtry, and Fraley were all endorsed by the NRA. Davis and Daughtry were rated A and Fraley, as a non-incumbent, was rated AQ. Davis and Daughtry were also rated as 4-star by GRNC while Fraley got 3 stars.