Pity poor, old racist Sheriff Garry McFadden from North Carolina’s largest county. His days of slow-walking carry license applications and causing grief for good guy and gal gun owners may be about to end. Why? Because North Carolina is poised to become the 30th state to join America’s constitutional carry club.
NC Con Carry update:
After 70 days stuck in the NC Rules Committee, SB 50 was sent to the House Judiciary and passed along party lines.
Call Rules Committee Chairman John Bell at 919-715-3017
Urge him to send Constitutional Carry to the House Calendar immediately! pic.twitter.com/fYApuOv2XW
— National Association for Gun Rights (@NatlGunRights) June 3, 2025
WRAL shared a very negative take on the bill . . .
An effort by gun-rights activists to repeal North Carolina’s concealed carry rules moved forward in the legislature Tuesday, narrowly winning approval in a state House of Representatives committee.
Several bills with similar proposals for allowing nearly any adult to carry a concealed firearm without a permit were filed this year. One of them, Senate Bill 50, has passed the Senate and is now working its way through the state House.
Republicans on the House committee that approved SB50 Tuesday offered no explanation for why they supported the bill before taking the vote to approve it. Democrats, however, offered long lists of reasons for their opposition.
In addition to repealing the training rules and background checks currently required to get a concealed carry permit, the law would also lower the age for carrying a concealed pistol from 21 to 18.
Democratic Reps. Ya Liu and Laura Budd each referenced their own teenage boys when questioning the wisdom of allowing high schoolers to carry concealed weapons at all, let alone without first having to prove they know how to safely handle a gun. “There’s a huge difference between age 18 and age 21,” Liu said. “I mean, 18 year olds, they’re not mature enough. They are highly emotional.”
Blah, blah blah. We’ve heard all of those same tired tropes before. And oh, what a shame that 18-year-old adults could carry a gun and defend themselves and their loved ones just like older adults.
Not only that, but gun-hating sheriffs would no longer have the means to discriminate against disfavored people and classes when it comes to processing applications in a timely manner.
For those keeping track, the current roster of Constitutional Carry States, alphabetically listed: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming. There’s always room for more.
We are hopeful but there is a very slim chance that this will pass with 3/5 majority needed to stymie Governor Stein who has publicly stated that he will veto. Senate republicans hold a super majority but the house is one vote short so full attendance and support is necessary. Shame that they didn’t get this done last time when both houses were veto proof.
Republicans never had a real supermajority in the House. Even when they had 72 votes under Cooper, it wasn’t real since Trisha Cotham publicly stated her opposition to constitutional carry. Which is no surprise since she is a Democrat defector who changed to R only because of abortion and transgender issues, she has never cared about gun rights.