A massive win happened for the State of North Carolina. Followed by an authoritarian veto by our dear Governor Cooper. HB 398: Pistol Purchase Permit Repeal has passed both the House and the Senate. For those who don’t know, the PPP (pistol purchase permit) was put into law in 1919. It was a Jim Crow law with specific verbiage used to deny black Americans in North Carolina their right to own a handgun to protect themselves and their family. This was accomplished with a single line that gave sheriffs the unconstitutional authority to determine whether a person applying for a permit possessed “good moral character”. At the time the law was hailed as the “KKK’s favorite law.” I will let the reader guess who was overwhelmingly denied permits due to sheriff’s departments evaluations of “character.”
This purposely worded law allowed individuals in positions of power within North Carolina to disproportionately deny black citizens their right to a handgun. Within the last few decades, the law’s character clause was dropped as it was deemed too “subjective” by numerous gun advocacy groups and every person with a modicum of common sense. However, the appeal occurred because the appeal was brought to the attention of sheriff’s departments that these permits, when they are issued, are valid for five years. So for five years these permits are a written blessing from the individual sheriff’s department that the person they have issued the permit to will not commit a felony for the next five years, no matter what, the permit is still valid, as it is independent from the NCIS system used currently.
Last year, NC experienced the administrative consequences of this asinine law which was used as a way for the state to collect seven dollars off anyone who wishes to legally purchase a handgun and then forced them to wait to process it for no reason whatsoever. I personally know people who had multi-month wait periods for a purchase permit last year due to the sheer influx of people purchasing guns and sheriff’s departments were not equipped to handle the volume leading to back ups and infringing waits. For every citizen of North Carolina, the PPP repeal should have been a tremendous win and a great step in the right direction for 2A rights within the state. Handguns could have been sold just like every other weapon in the state using an NCIS federal background check, which is instant, doesn’t cost seven dollars, is more effective than a state promise of five years of good behavior, and doesn’t arbitrarily create a wait period for someone who can legally purchase the handgun in the first place.
With all of this on the table; the truly ingenious and progressive move by Roy Cooper was to veto the bill in doing so upholding one of the longest standing Jim Crow laws in the state of North Carolina. It is unfortunately unsurprising that the party of Jim Crow continues to uphold the laws they made 100 years ago. This truly solidifies the Democrat platform within North Carolina as staunch opposition to one of the most important amendments in the Constitution. Cooper and the Democrats have chosen to, once again, side with needless government regulation, constitutional infringement, and penalization of law abiding citizens. Ignoring the history of the permits, today they are completely irrelevant due to the existence of the NCIS federal background check system.
They serve only to be a way for the state to collect a few dollars on each lawful handgun purchase and arbitrarily penalize law-abiding citizens with a de facto wait time for permits, of which one is at the mercy of their respective county in terms of turnaround time for a permit. I will mention that two Democrat House representatives voted for the repeal and I do commend them for reaching across party lines. However, within the Senate it was a clear party line split followed by Pooper Cooper’s veto signaling the DNC’s stance that they wish to uphold outdated and useless Jim Crow laws no matter what. It is almost poetic, Dixiecrats created the law and 100 years later they uphold it, proving in my mind that the Democrats were and still are the party of Jim Crow and needless regulation.
Special shout out to Grass Roots NC and their hard work as a volunteer organization to get the Sheriff’s Association support of the bill. If you care about the 2nd Amendment in North Carolina I urge you to check them out, they’re a fully volunteer lobby organization and they played a big role in getting this bill presented.
