(The Center Square) – As the General Assembly resumes its long session next week ahead of the May 8 crossover date, still parked in a rules committee having passed one chamber is a proposal for North Carolina to join more than half the country with constitutional carry.
Freedom to Carry NC, known also as Senate Bill 50, allows permitless carry of a concealed handgun and allows residents to get a concealed carry permit for reciprocity with other states. Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., authored the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act in the U.S. House of Representatives and it thus far has made it through the Committee on the Judiciary.
Passage in the Senate was 26-18, with no Republicans against and no Democrats for it. Republican state Reps. Danny Britt of Robeson County, Warren Daniel of Burke County and Eddie Settle of Wilkes County say the proposal creates a “freer North Carolina.”
In a joint statement, the trio said, “Law-abiding citizens deserve to exercise their Second Amendment rights without government interference. It is time for North Carolina to join the ranks of the 29 other states that have constitutional carry.”
The bill language says United States citizenship is required along with being at least 18 years old.
Of the eight South Atlantic states, North Carolina joins Delaware, Maryland and Virginia in requiring permits. Those are also the only states of 16 considered the South; the other 12 permitless are West Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida in the South Atlantic; Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi in the East South Central; and Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas in the West South Central.
Of those with permitless concealed carry, the minimum age is 21 sans Arkansas (18), Georgia if in the military (18), South Carolina (18) and Tennessee (18).
If the proposal becomes law, it would be effective Dec. 1.
The federal proposal by Hudson would allow people with state-issued concealed carry licenses or permits to conceal a handgun in any other state.
