North Carolina requires a permit to purchase a pistol. Unlike the Illinois FOID system, North Carolina requires a new permit for each pistol to be purchased.
The process to obtain a pistol purchase permit is burdensome. It requires filling out an application, having the permit notarized, taking it to the local Sheriff’s Office, paying $5 for the application, the notary fee, then waiting 28 days for the permit to arrive.
A bill going through the North Carolina legislature is trying to amend the process.
Bill allows unlimited handguns per permit
Legislation rolled out Wednesday would let people buy multiple handguns without getting multiple permits from their local sheriff, a change supporters billed as a “streamlining.”
“This is not opening up more guns. It’s just cutting out some bureaucracy,” said Eddie Caldwell, executive vice president and general counsel of the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association.
Under current law, people who don’t have concealed carry permits have to get a pistol purchase permit from their sheriff for each handgun they buy. They can get more than one permit in a day, and there’s no limit how many permits they can get, but each purchase requires separate paperwork from the county sheriff.
That is a pain in the ass.
Senate Bill 90 would change that, making a single permit good for five years, regardless of how many handguns the person buys.
“It’s streamlining the bureaucracy … without jeopardizing public safety,” Caldwell told the Senate Judiciary committee on Wednesday
I love eliminating bureaucracy for the common man.
The bill has Republican backing, and the sheriffs’ association endorsed it, attaching a high-priority designation to their support.
I have a feeling that most North Carolinas sheriffs are tired of handling the paperwork of new purchase permits for repeat gun buyers and that at $5 a permit, it is a money-losing venture for the department.
Moms Demand Action, a group that works against gun violence, is against the bill, and a representative called it “a step in the wrong direction.”
Sen. Floyd McKissick, D-Durham, called the proposal “an intrinsically bad idea.”
“I don’t know what benefit is derived,” McKissisk said. “If anything, we already have enough handguns out there.”
See, it’s not about stopping criminals from having guns, it’s about making it too inconvenient to buy a gun. This isn’t going to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, it is going to keep guns out of the hands of working class people who can’t take time off from work during business hours to do the paperwork.
Sponsoring Sen. Danny Britt, R-Robeson, a former prosecutor, said many guns used in crimes are obtained illegally and that the bill makes “it easier for folks who buy firearms the legal way.” He noted people can buy long guns – rifles and shotguns – without visiting their sheriff at all “and do the same damage.
That is a whole lot of honesty from a former prosecutor, someone who should know a little bit about the subject.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” Britt said of the bill. “Personally, I’d be fine with no pistol purchase permit at all.”
The committee doesn’t plan to vote on the bill until next Tuesday to give more people time to weigh in on it.
Readers in North Carolina, contact your state representatives and tell them to pass this bill.
Eliminating bureaucracy and letting the law abiding citizens of the Tar Heel State have a little more freedom is a good thing.
We had the same here in Missouri until 2007.
The resident’s County Sheriff had 3 days to issue a permit (one gun per) for anyone buying from even another individual.
The cost went from $2 to $10 just before the law was repealed.
When it was repealed, every Sheriff I knew breathed a sigh of relief as it was seen as a waste of time.
The fact remains that the Second Amendment in the Bill Of Rights to the Constitution of the United States does not require that a permit has to be applied for, paid for, and approved before being issued and allowing someone to exercise the stated right to own and bear arms.
An effort to eliminate the Firearms Owners ID (FOID) permit in Illinois is currently being actively legally pursued.
Most, if not all of proposed or inacted legislation only serve to penalize law abiding citizens and it remains obviously ineffective in the prevention of criminals (existing or potential) from committing gun related crimes.
No one has yet answered the question, “Would previous passage of proposed legislation have prevented any crimes?”
I agree, but until the Supreme Court rules these kinds of things to be unconstitutional, we are left amending them in the legislature. That means rolling back restrictions one step at a time. This is a good step. Don’t knock it because it’s not perfect.
Philosophy is not strategy.
Question,
Does a NC Carry Permit work in place of the pistol purchase permit?
Here in Minnesota wehave a one year pistol purchase permit, or you can use your carry permit instead. Is NC similar?