Restaurant/ Campus Carry Heads For Senate Floor

House Bill 937 passed the NC Senate Judiciary I Committee yesterday and will head for the Senate floor as early as today. Please see below for immediate actions required.

Due to the efforts of Senator Buck Newton (R- , GRNC ****), Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Guilford, Rockingham, ****) and Senate Rules Chair Tom Apodaca (R, Henderson, ****), the version passed by the committee was far stronger than what left the House.

Although debate was limited, when asked for public comment, the chief of security for the University of North Carolina, along with security heads from all 17 campuses stood, in uniform, to express “concerns” about the bill’s campus provisions. Afterward, GRNC president Paul Valone addressed the committee by noting that UNC objections to campus carry on the premise that it would harm their ability to “protect” students rang false in light of the fact that violent crime on campuses across the state, plus attempts by two schools to suppress reports of violent crime, reveal that UNC is doing a poor job of “protecting” anyone.

GRNC wishes to thank Senate leadership for working with our organization to strengthen laws, better enabling lawful North Carolinians to protect themselves and their families.

Improvements to HB 937

In addition to restaurant carry, guns in locked vehicles in state-owned parking lots and a limited provision for guns in locked vehicles on state college campuses, all of which were in the House version of the bill, the Proposed Committee Substitute passed by the Senate:

• Expands the guns-in-locked-vehicles provision for concealed handgun permit-holders (CHP-holders) to include all campuses rather than simply institutions of higher learning. As before, employees of the institution living in detached dwellings could still transfer firearms to and from their homes, but also added is a limited measure for employees who do not have CHPs.
• Enables CHP-holders to carry at assemblies of people for which admission is charged and any establishment serving alcohol unless the person in control of the premises posts against firearms. As before, permit-holders would be prohibited from imbibing alcohol.
• Narrows and clarifies the definition of “recreational facilities” within parks where municipalities may still ban concealed carry in parks, specifically prohibiting bans when organized athletic events are not taking place, and prohibiting bans in greenways, biking and walking paths and other open areas.
• Removes handgun permits from public record, rendering them unavailable to the media.
• Repeals the current prohibition on firearms for CHP-holders at funerals and parades.
• Repeals NC’s Jim Crow-era handgun purchase permit system in its entirety.
• Requires sheriffs to revoke CHPs from permit-holders convicted of disqualifying crimes.
• Expands hunting to include use of sound suppressors.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED!

• CALL & EMAIL YOUR STATE SENATOR: Tell them to not only support HB 937, but to oppose all weakening amendments, particularly “poison pill” amendments to restaurant carry and any amendment which would weaken campus carry.
• SEND AN EMAIL TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE SENATE using the copy and paste list below.
• EMAIL THE UNC BOARD OF GOVERNORS: Even if you have already contacted them, email them again to ask whether 17 UNC security heads, in uniform, were lobbying against HB 937 at taxpayer expense.