permitless carry

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GRNC Feedback Day

May 6, 2024 by

Grass Roots North Carolina has declared Tuesday, May 7th, as Feedback Day. In an effort to get HB 189 for permitless concealed carry back on the agenda, they are urging everyone to call NC House Speaker Tim Moore and NC Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger. You are asked to thank them for ridding the state of the Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit and then urge them to get HB 189 back on track.

I would add that if you live and vote in the 14th Congressional District of North Carolina please remind Tim Moore that he needs your vote if he wants to be elected to Congress.

The alert is below with phone numbers and instructions.

‘FEEDBACK DAY’ ON
CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY
GRNC ‘Feedback Day’ will drop calls into leaders’ offices

 Should you need governmental permission to exercise a basic civil right? 

Last week, legislative team volunteers led by GRNC President Paul Valone delivered a hand truck full of petitions calling for constitutional carry to Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, arguably the most powerful politician in the state, and then held a press conference on his doorstep. That is called “speaking truth to power.”

The effort kicked off GRNC’s renewed campaign to pass House Bill 189, “Freedom to Carry NC,” sponsored by Rep. Keith Kidwell (R- Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Pamlico, GRNC ****). The bill stalled last year when Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger told reporters that, having repealed the pistol purchase permit law, legislators had no “need” to address another gun bill. GRNC President Paul Valone has countered that ours is a Bill of Rights, not “needs,” and that Sen. Berger is not a self-appointed arbiter of “needs.” 

When Berger conceded later to reporters that “Constitutional carry is something that is worth talking about. We’ll talk with our members and see whether there is an appetite to move forward with it,” Valone responded: “We’re the ‘members’ who gave you a supermajority, Sen. Berger, so let’s talk.”

GRNC in action: For a video of GRNC’s Legislative Action Team holding a constitutional carry press conference on Berger’s doorstep CLICK HERE.  
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!
It’s time to make your voice heard loud and clear in the halls of the legislature by sending a message to Republican leaders in Raleigh. We would like you to call during a two-hour period from 9:00 AM EDT to 11:00 AM EDT this coming Tuesday, May 7.

Why Tuesday? Because NC Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and NC House Speaker Tim Moore are more likely to be in their offices. Legislative assistants will prevent you from speaking with them, of course, but they will witness the huge number of resulting calls, all calling for constitutional carry. Set a reminder in your phone. 

CALL SEN. PHIL BERGER: Between 9 AM and 11 AM on Tuesday, May 7, call Sen. Berger at 919-733-5708. (See below, under ‘Deliver This Message’ for the message to convey). 


CALL SPEAKER TIM MOORE: Also between 9 AM and 11 AM on Tuesday, May 7, call Speaker Tim Moore at 919-733-3451. (See below, under ‘Deliver This Message’ for the message to convey). 


PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO GRNC: Help us fight fun 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.   
DELIVER THIS MESSAGE

What to tell Republican leaders:     

Thank them for repealing our Jim Crow purchase permit law, but tell them the job won’t be done until the Republican supermajority passes constitutional carry, including over-riding Gov. Roy Cooper’s inevitable veto.

NC Republicans have fallen behind Republicans in the 29 other states that have already passed constitutional carry.

Research by John R. Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center found no increase in violent crime in constitutional carry states, and even a slight drop in murder.

Gun voters helped create the supermajority Republicans have used to pass several laws, over-riding Cooper’s vetoes. It is time they acknowledged that by passing House Bill 189, “Freedom to Carry NC” NOW!

Excuses like legislative rules and placing blame on one chamber or the other are just that: Excuses. 
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Every Picture Tells A Story, Vol. 2, No. 5 (Updated)

March 7, 2024 by 6 Comments

I really did not expect to be doing this post so soon after publishing Vol. 2, No. 4. Nonetheless, the South Carolina House and Senate got their act together to pass permitless carry. The Palmetto State now becomes the 29th state to allow permitless carry. Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC) is expected to sign the bill into law as early as today.

HB 3594 will allow anyone age 18 or greater who is legally able to possess a firearm to carry concealed without a permit. The law will go into effect as soon as Gov. McMaster signs it. The law also authorizes the SC State Law Enforcement Division to create a twice monthly, free training class. That is still in development as is how it will be offered (online or in-person).

From The State on other provisions of the bill:

The bill includes stricter penalties for people who repeatedly carry guns into places they are not allowed to, including schools and courthouses. It also adds penalties for those who commit a crime with a concealed weapon who do not have a CWP.

A property owner, holder of a lease interest, or operator of a business can prohibit patrons from entering with a firearm by posting a “NO CONCEALABLE WEAPONS ALLOWED.” A person convicted of knowingly carrying a firearm into a liquor, beer or wine store for consumption on the premises is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Thanks to Rob Vance, we have an updated graphic to show the state of freedom in the United States.

Looking at the remaining “Shall-issue” states, North Carolina is the most likely to adopt permitless carry in the near to intermediate future. I could see Pennsylvania and Wisconsin passing it if they were to elect a Republican governor to go along with their Republican legislatures. I hate to say but the rest seem to be a lost cause and that includes Virginia. If anything, the remaining shall-issue states seem to be regressing when it comes to firearms.

Update: Gov. Henry McMaster signed the South Carolina Second Amendment Preservation Act into law this afternoon.

He said on signing it:

With my signature, South Carolina is now the 29th state in the country with constitutional carry. This bill expands the Second Amendment rights of our law-abiding citizens and will keep violent criminals behind bars with increased penalties for illegal gun use and possession.

From McMaster’s Facebook page.
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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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Every Picture Tells A Story, Part XVII

April 12, 2022 by 5 Comments

Georgia becomes the 25th state to enact permitless or constitutional carry. Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) promised to sign the bill if it came to him and he did it this afternoon in Douglasville, Georgia. With the addition of Georgia, over 36% of all Americans reside in a state with unrestricted or permitless concealed carry.

The graph originally developed by Rob Vance back in 2011 has certainly changed a lot over the years. At first, it was the addition of shall-issue concealed carry into the states of Wisconsin and Illinois. I said at the time that shall-issue was the new normal.

Then it started adding more and more states who had adopted permitless carry. This year it is had to be revised a number of times. It may be revised again if Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has his way down in Florida. If that happens, almost 43% of all Americans would live in states with unrestricted carry.

Shall-issue is no longer the new normal; unrestricted carry is the new normal.

Below is the latest graph by Rob that shows the addition of Georgia.

Contrast the current graph in 2022 with the graph from 2011 shown below. You see two things: the growth of unrestricted carry and the decline of effectively no-issue to virtually nil. If I had to come up with reasons for this change, I’d say it is due to three things. First, wins in court. Second, the election of pro-rights legislatures in many states. Finally, governors seeing the writing was on the wall and knowing their own political fortunes were in peril if they didn’t sign the bill.

While I’d love to see the yellow or may-issue section decrease, I don’t think we will see any movement in that until and unless the Supreme Court rules against New York in the Bruen case. I am keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

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Follow-Up On Nebraska

April 12, 2022 by 1 Comment

As I posted yesterday, supporters of permitless carry in Nebraska failed to get enough votes to invoke cloture on the filibuster of LB 773. The bill would have made Nebraska the 26th state with unrestricted or permitless carry. Gov. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) had said he would sign the bill.

While the Nebraska Legislature is officially non-partisan, the senators have political affiliations and are supported by the political parties when they run for office. The website Ballotpedia did the research and has the political affiliation of each senator.

As I noted yesterday, two more votes in favor of cloture were needed. I thought it would be interesting to look at who voted against the bill and, more importantly, those that voted “present – not voting”. This latter wanted to eat their cake and have it too. While they can say they didn’t vote against the bill, they still condemned it to defeat by not voting.

Voting Nay

  1. Sen. Eliot Bostar (Dem – Dist 29)
  2. Sen. John Cavanaugh (Dem – Dist 9)
  3. Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (Dem – Dist 6)
  4. Sen. Jen Day (Dem – Dist 49)
  5. Sen. Wendy DeBoer (Dem – Dist 10)
  6. Sen. Matt Hansen (Dem – Dist 26)
  7. Sen. Megan Hunt (Dem – Dist 8)
  8. Sen. Steve Lathrop (Dem – Dist 12)
  9. Sen. Adam Morfield (Dem – Dist 46)

These nine Democrats all represented districts in either Douglas County (Omaha) or Lancaster County (Lincoln).

Present – Not Voting

  1. Sen. Carol Blood (Dem – Dist 3)
  2. Sen. Suzanne Geist (Rep – Dist 25)
  3. Sen. Robert Hilkemann (Rep – Dist 4)
  4. Sen. John McCollister (Rep – Dist 20)
  5. Sen. Mike McDonnell (Dem – Dist 5)
  6. Sen. Lynne Walz (Dem – Dist 15)

If truth be told, I have more respect for those senators that voted against invoking cloture. At least, they had the courage of their convictions however misguided.

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No Permitless Carry For Nebraska

April 12, 2022 by

Supporters of LB 773, the permitless carry bill in Nebraska, fell two votes short in their attempt to invoke cloture on a filibuster against the bill. The vote was 31-9. Failure to invoke closure in the Nebraska’s unicameral legislature means the bill is dead for the year. If it had passed, Gov. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) had promised to sign it.

The primary sponsor of the legislation, Sen. Tom Brewer (Dis. 43- Gordon) has promised to bring the bill back next session.

From the Omaha World-Herald:

“Next year we’ll start over again,” he vowed, predicting that newly elected lawmakers will change the makeup of the Legislature and provide enough votes for the measure to pass. 

Under LB 773, which was co-sponsored by a majority of state senators, Nebraska adults who were not otherwise banned from having guns would no longer have had to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Initially, the bill faced opposition from major law enforcement groups in Nebraska such as the Omaha Police Officers Association and the Omaha PD. However, Sen. Brewer had negotiated a compromise and the law enforcement groups would change to neutral on the bill if that compromise amendment was adopted.

Again from the Omaha World-Herald on the compromise:

But the amendment failed on a 13-29 vote Monday, with hard-line gun rights advocates joining those who favored gun restrictions to shoot it down. 

The Omaha police union then switched back to opposition and began urging senators to vote against the bill. 

The compromise amendment would have allowed cities of the metropolitan class, meaning Omaha, to continue to require registration of all handguns, other than those owned by people with a concealed-carry permit. The city could not deny registrations to anyone allowed by state law to own a gun.

The amendment also would make it a crime to carry a concealed handgun while committing any of a lengthy list of offenses. The list ranges from murder to “unauthorized” graffiti and includes violations of city or village ordinances, as well as state laws.

As I’m not a resident of the Cornhusker State, I don’t know all the hoops that Sen. Brewer had to jump through to get that “compromise” but to me it seems he was giving up more than was gained. While permitless carry would have been great, registration of handguns and any sort of a carve-out for Omaha would seem to negate what would be gained. Any registration scheme is anathema to me.

I hope Sen. Brewer is correct in seeing a potential pickup of the needed seats to overcome a future filibuster in the next session. I’d much rather see the effort go to picking up those seats than to making any sort of compromise that would minimize the win of getting permitless carry passed.

As you would expect, the anti-rights forces are crowing about the failure to invoke cloture.

In another tweet she says they sent 400 emails and made 400 calls as if that was an overwhelming number. Jeez!

The Nebraska Legislature is officially non-partisan. It will take some research to check the affiliation of the nine nay votes and the six who voted “present-not voting”.

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Kemp To Sign Permitless Carry Bill On Tuesday

April 10, 2022 by

Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) will sign Georgia’s recently passed permitless carry bill into law on Tuesday, April 12th. He plans to do it at Gable Sporting Goods in Douglasville which is located 20 miles west of Atlanta.

I received this media advisory from Kemp’s office on Friday:

Atlanta, GA – On Tuesday, April 12, 2022, Governor Brian P. Kemp, joined by First Lady Marty Kemp, legislators, and other special guests, will sign the Georgia Constitutional Carry Act (SB 319) into law.
WHO: Governor Kemp, First Lady Marty Kemp, and other state leaders

WHEN: Tuesday, April 12, 2022 at 3:30 PM

WHERE: Gable’s Sporting Goods, 6250 Fairburn Road, Douglasville, Georgia 30134

WHAT: Governor Kemp and other guests will provide remarks before the bill signing.

RSVP: Please RSVP to Andrew Isenhour by Monday, April 11, 2022 at 5:00 p.m.

According to Section 18 of the bill, the law goes into effect immediately upon Gov. Kemp’s signature. As of Tuesday, fully one half of all the states will have unrestricted or permitless carry.

In related news, it appears that the Nebraska Senate will bring LB773 up for a vote on Monday. That is the permitless carry bill for Nebraska which Gov. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) has pledged to sign.

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Every Picture Tells A Story, Part XVI

March 22, 2022 by 5 Comments

Gov. Eric Holcomb (R-IN) signed House Bill 1296 into law this afternoon. Hoosiers will now be allowed to carry concealed without a permit effective July 1, 2022. The state already allowed free lifetime carry permits. Indiana becomes the third state in 2022 to adopt unrestricted or permitless carry joining Ohio and Alabama. It is now the 24th state in the United States that has constitutional carry.

As the updated graphic below shows, approximately 33% of all Americans now live in a state that allows unrestricted carry. By contrast, only 25.34% of Americans lives in may-issue or virtually no-issue states.

Gov. Holcomb had this to say as to why he signed the bill.

“The Second Amendment has been debated for years, yet time and again our U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed this important constitutional right that I fully support. Twenty-three other states have laws comparable to HEA 1296. Vermont has had a constitutional carry law in place since it became a state, and several other states have had a similar law for more than a decade. HEA 1296, which I’ve signed today, entrusts Hoosiers who can lawfully carry a handgun to responsibly do so within our State. It’s important to note that if a person is prohibited, under federal or state laws, from possessing a firearm before this law goes into effect, that person will still be prohibited. And if a prohibited person has a firearm, he or she can be prosecuted. Firearm permits will remain available, without fee, to anyone who wants or needs one, such as Hoosiers desiring to carry a firearm to, through or in another state that has reciprocity with Indiana.”

Many in Indiana law enforcement had campaigned against the bill including the head of the Indiana State Police. Nonetheless, ISP Superintendent Doug Carter indicated he will work to make the bill’s passage a success. He did still encourage Hoosiers to apply for their free lifetime carry permits.

Also opposing the bill were the usual suspects within the gun control industry. In the Everytown.org press release, they now refer to themselves as “public safety advocates”. I guess that will now supersede the term “gun safety” in their lexicon.

I anticipate the state of Georgia will be the next state to pass and implement constitutional carry. Florida is off the books for this year. I would say that my home state of North Carolina will not have constitutional carry until either Roy Cooper is gone or the Republicans regain a super-majority in both houses of the General Assembly.

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Every Pictures Tells A Story, Part XIV

March 11, 2022 by 3 Comments

Alabama became the 22nd state with permitless, unrestricted, or constitutional carry this afternoon. Gov. Kay Ivey (R-AL) signed House Bill 272 which will go into effect in January 2023. When I first started publishing this graphic created by Rob Vance in 2011, the unrestricted or blue section at the upper right of the graphic was rather small. Now over a quarter of all Americans live in a state with unrestricted carry.

Furthermore, as I write this, the governors of the states of Ohio and Indiana both have unrestricted carry bills awaiting their signature. If those states join Alabama, another 7% of the United States population will reside in unrestricted carry states.

Gov. Ivey had this to say in her signing statement:

“Unlike states who are doing everything in their power to make it harder for law abiding citizens, Alabama is reaffirming our commitment to defending our Second Amendment rights,” said Governor Ivey. “I have always stood up for the rights of law abiding gunowners, and I am proud to do that again today.”

The primary sponsor of this bill was Rep. Shane Stringer (R – Mobile). He brought the amended bill to the floor of the Alabama House today and it was approved in a 70-29 vote mostly – but not entirely – along party lines. The Alabama Senate then approved it in a 24-6 vote. The House had originally passed it on February 22nd but then the Senate made amendments which pushed it to a conference committee.

Rep. Stringer had this to say about the bill’s passage:

“I am deeply thankful to my colleagues in the Legislature for passing this constitutional carry measure, which allows Alabamians to exercise their fundamental rights without first having to pay a gun tax in the form of permit fees,” Stringer said in a statement. “Those who still wish to purchase a permit for reciprocity with other states or other reasons continue to retain that option under this law.”

Stringer also noted that the law does establish a database of prohibited persons which he contends is more important than whether one had a permit or not. He contended there were some Alabama sheriffs who did not conduct background checks before issuing – or selling – permits.

Stringer himself has had a long career in law enforcement. He served as a deputy in the Mobile County Sheriffs Department and was also the police chief of the towns of Citronelle and Satsuma.

George Owens, Legislative Director of the Alabama Gun Rights Network, pointed out some of the details of the bill in this post.

First it means that if you can legally own a pistol you don’t need a permit to carry that pistol openly or concealed, or in your vehicle.

Second, you can still buy a permit including the lifetime permit that will become available later this year.

Your permit remains important to legally protect you from being criminally charged under certain circumstances.

You must have a permit if you carry a pistol onto a school grounds or at any school function like at a football game. This includes having a pistol in your vehicle when picking your child up. This is a federal law and it is taken very seriously.

You may not carry onto the private property of another person unless you have a permit, OR have the permission of the owner of the property.

Your permit will still grant you carry privileges in the roughly 22 states that have reciprocity agreements with Alabama. That includes Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Tennessee, to name a few.

Regardless of whether you prefer to call it the Yellowhammer State or the Heart of Dixie, congratulations to all Alabamans on the hard won freedom.

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Every Picture Tells A Story, Part XIII

June 17, 2021 by 2 Comments

Texas officially became the 20th 21st state to enact permitless or constitutional carry yesterday. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) kept his promise and signed HB 1927 into law. It becomes effective on September 1st. The bill allows anyone who is age 21 and over who can legally possess a firearm to carry, openly or concealed, a handgun so long as it is a non-prohibited public place. There is an exception made for those convicted of certain misdemeanors within the past five years. They are only allowed to carry in their homes or vehicles.

GOA Texas has an excellent summary of the exceptions, the prohibited places, and what the bill contains.

With Texas becoming the 20th 21st state to allow permitless carry, there are almost as many states allowing permitless carry as there are with shall-issue carry. The addition of Texas jumps the percentage of the US population living in a permitless state from 17.6% to 26.4%. As Rob Vance who has created the graph below notes, “This is what a preference cascade looks like.”

When Rob Vance and I started this series almost ten years ago, Illinois still had not enacted shall-issue carry. I commented that in 2011, shall-issue carry was the new norm. In 2021, we are almost to the tipping point where permitless carry will be the new norm. If large shall-issue states like Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, or North Carolina were to adopt permitless carry, then we would have tipped.

We are still waiting on Gov. John Bel Edwards (D-LA) to either sign or veto Louisiana’s SB 118 allowing permitless carry. He has said he will veto it but the legislation passed with a super-majority meaning his veto would probably be overridden. Since the bill passed within the last 10 days of the legislative session, Edwards has until approximately June 24th to veto it or it becomes law without his signature.

The usual suspects are crying that blood will now run in the streets of Texas. The Demanding Moms plan to picket the Governor’s Mansion and other places to attract attention from their compliant media allies. Progress Texas is condemning it claiming a majority of Texans didn’t approve of it. As we have seen time after time, despite the hyperbole, nothing of the claimed actions does actually happen.