The override has passed and this bill
will become law, notwithstanding
the objections of the governor.
With that override of the governor's veto,
there is a new law about
guns in North Carolina.
The changes breakdown to three
different categories. Yes,
so we're going to look at how you
buy guns, where you can buy guns,
and then how do you store those guns.
Let's start with the biggest change
from the law, getting rid of the
permit process for buying a handgun.
The permit process has been
in place for about 100 years.
So to find out what that means,
if you go to buy a gun today,
I sat down with Rockingham
County Sheriff Sam page.
You want to purchase a handgun,
you would no longer have to come to
the sheriff to fill out the paperwork
and apply for a purchase permit.
So what steps would I have to do?
If you wanted to purchase a handgun
from a life federal license dealer,
a firearms dealer, then what would happen
is you would go to a firearms dealer.
And you'd say you'd like
to purchase a handgun,
and then they would do a next check,
national Insta check, check to the FBI.
Then they'd do that check on you.
And if you pass the check,
then they can make the sales. What
if I want to buy it from my neighbor?
Then again, if your neighbor want to do a
transfer and you're not a prohibited person,
and that person knows you're not a
prohibited person, then that neighbor could
sell directly to you without any kind of
background check under the current law.
Yes, Sir, as of today.
How do they tell whether or not I'm a
prohibited person without a bankrupt?
That would be the responsibility
of the seller.
You should know who you're selling to.
Yes, Sir. What happens if if a private
dealer sells a gun to a prohibitive person?
Then it would be in violation
of federal law and state law.
And they could face what
kind of penalties for that.
It'll be a felony. Well, thanks so much.
I appreciate your time, Sir.
Thank you.
Governor Roy Cooper originally vetoed
this bill because he felt the changes to
the process would create a loophole where
some dangerous people could get guns.
Here he is at a stop in Greensboro
earlier this month explaining his view.
I think that this legislation
that completely eliminates
the permit for a pistol,
which would make it easier
for people who commit domestic
violence to be able to buy guns,
I think that's going backward.
I think we need to go forward to
try to reduce gun violence while
respecting the Second Amendment
on the other side of this issue,
a spokesperson from the NRA
says N Carolina's new law is a
victory for the 2nd amendments.
We, at the end of the day,
we don't think that you should need
government permission in order to
exercise your constitutional freedoms.
That if you want to buy a handgun to protect
your family and have it in your home,
you shouldn't need to go to the
government 1st and ask for permission.
So, you know, removing that step,
which we see as a burden and
impediment to both, again,
being able to defend yourself,
your home, your family, but again,
a constitutional freedom that you have.
We just don't think you need
to have the government there
involved in order to execute that.
According to Giffords,
a gun safety group that tracks
gun laws across the country,
this morning North Carolina was
one of 10 states that required
a permit to buy a pistol.
Now it is down to 9 Connecticut,
Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey,
Oregon and Rhode Island.
The organization also says polling
shows 68% of gun owners support
a law requiring a person to
obtain a license from local law
enforcement before buying a gun.
Imported to note here that
is across the entire country,
not just North Carolina.
Now, while that part of the law
goes into effect immediately,
there are other changes that we're
going to see in the next coming months.
For instance, beginning in July,
non sworn law enforcement employees
will now be allowed to carry concealed
weapons in law enforcement buildings.
But that's only if they have the
law enforcement heads permission.
Now that would be someone like the
sheriff or the chief of police.
Then, in December,
people will be able to carry guns
at churches that share property
with a school building,
but they can carry only outside of the
school hours and when the school is
not being used for any nonreligious
extracurricular activities for minors,
a reminder here a concealed
handgun still cannot be carried in
any state or federal building,
like a courthouse, for example,
or on school grounds during those
school hours in areas of assembly.
Like a parade,
a funeral or a demonstration.
Also,
you cannot carry your gun into a
business that has posted signs banning
concealed weapons or by someone
under the influence of alcohol or
controlled substance that is not
prescribed to them by a doctor.
Also,
in areas where concealed handguns
are prohibited by federal law,
the last section of the new law
is all about the gun safety.
Now it requires the State Department
of Public Safety to work with
the Department of Health and
Human Services and the Wildlife
Resource Commission to launch A2
year Safe Gun Storage initiative.
That entails the creation of a website
and a toolkit of information for
local communities to use to launch
storage initiatives at local levels.
So the departments are not
allowed to use the initiative
to advocate for new gun laws.
Changing that.
Senate Bill 41,
the
new law became official after N
Carolina's house overrode the
governor's veto and a vote of 71 to 46.
Now, if you add these two numbers up,
you don't get 120, which is the
total number of members in the House.
You get 117, meaning three
people missed the vote,
all of them Democrats.
That allowed Republicans to have the 2/3
needed to overturn the governor's veto.
One of those missing Democrats was
Cecil Brockman from High Point.
I reached out for comment
about why he wasn't there,
but haven't been able to connect
with his office yet.
Republican lawmakers said they
gave plenty of notice that a veto
override vote was going to happen.
Our rules would have allowed this
body to take up this veto yesterday
when it was sent over from the Senate.
But the speaker did not do that.
Instead, the speaker gave
this body notice yesterday,
while we were still in session,
that we would do the veto
override this morning,
political scientists say.
After the last election,
Republicans gained several key
seats in the General Assembly.
And that this may be the first
of several times they override
the governor's veto this session.
Well, today State Republicans passed
a law strengthening gun rights.
It's Democrats that are
introducing gun safety bills.
Let's take a look.
House Bill 281 would allow law
enforcement to temporarily restrict a
person's access to guns if they pose
a danger to themselves or others.
House Bill 284 would allow law enforcement
agencies to destroy unclaimed firearms.
And house Bill 283 would require
a permit for rifle purchases.
Now let's head to Senate Bill
210 that would require a permit
to purchase any assault weapon.
All four bills currently stuck in
their respective rules and operations
committees, meaning they aren't
likely to get a vote anytime soon.
All right, so that means too many guns
and that thing, not enough storage.
And that's the problem that a local a lot of
local law enforcement agencies are facing.
Greensboro's police vault
can store up to 3000 guns.
The department told us it's
currently holding 11,000.
Wf my news to Sydney.
Moore went to the station to learn
more about the growing problem.
The number of seizures has
increased significantly.
Greensboro police officers Work day
in and day out confiscating guns that
are either illegal or used in a crime.
Some of the guns you know,
we're we're still retaining
because they may be needed for
court and things like that.
And they've got to be stored somewhere.
In this case, it's an overcrowded vault.
This is video from a couple years
ago when they only had 6000 guns.
Now it's almost double.
We have over 11,000 firearms
in custody at present.
Director of forensic evidence Kelly
Moore says the vault is designed to
only hold 3000 firearms. But basically
what the law allows us to do now,
once we receive authorization,
that a gun is no longer needed
to be retained in our custody.
We receive a court order.
That court order permits us to either
retain the gun for official agency use,
or we are authorized to sell,
trade or exchange the firearm with a
federal federally licensed firearm dealer,
Moore says. The department prefers to give
a stolen gun back to its rightful owner,
but if they can't track them down,
GPD keeps it. There's another option. We
are able to destroy guns only when
they do not have a legible serial
number or identification number,
or when they are unsafe to use.
The department says it wants the ability
to destroy guns without any restrictions,
something they were able to do
before the law changed in 2013.
If we were unable to locate an owner,
or an owner couldn't legally possess
a firearm, and we were authorized,
you know, to release that custody,
we would destroy the firearms.
There's a proposed bill in
Raleigh that would loosen some
restrictions on destroying firearms.
Representative pricey Harrison supports it.
That's another important
provision in our bill.
And there's some people back
home City Council,
Police Chief, sheriff,
who all feel very strongly they ought to
be able to destroy those guns.
That would be a big help.
The Guilford County Sheriff's Office says
it also has a full storage unit as well.