Unfortunately, some House members and the Governor are not comfortable
with the provision the Senate added to HB 937 that would eliminate the
requirement to obtain a permit to buy a handgun. There is also some
reluctance to approve the provision the Senate
added to allow gun owners to lock their guns in their cars when parked
on any public school or state college campus. So it may well be that
the leadership in the House will ask us to vote not to concur with the
Senate version of the bill. I have made it
clear that if such a motion is made, I will vote no. I want us to
concur with the Senate version; but I don’t think it will happen. If a
motion not to concur passes, the bill will go to conference, where these
provisions will very likely be removed. Another
possibility is that the Senate version of the bill could be referred to
the Rules Committee to die without us even voting on whether to
concur. I don’t think that will happen; but we just have to wait and
see.
Personally, I believe that the requirement to have a permit to purchase a
handgun is an unnecessary and unconstitutional infringement of our
right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment to the US
Constitution, and the first paragraph of Article I, Section
30 of the NC State Constitution clearly state that this right of the
people shall not be infringed; and they do not allow for any exceptions
in regard to this right as it pertains to law-abiding citizens. In
addition, I do not believe most criminals bother
to go through that process to obtain firearms. So the permit system
only hinders and delays honest, peaceful citizens who are seeking to
purchase handguns for their own defense. It is a system we need to
eliminate, as it costs our citizens more wasted time
and money, in violation of their rights, than it benefits the safety of
our society.
I will report more later. I hope all is well with you and yours, and that the Lord will continually bless you.
Representative Larry G. Pittman
North Carolina General Assembly
House of Representatives
1321 Legislative Building
16 W. Jones Street
Raleigh, NC 27601-1096
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