Michael Bloomberg-funded Everytown for Gun Safety is fighting the repeal of a law that requires North Carolinians to acquire a permit to purchase a handgun before they can actually purchase one. They are doing this by equating the permit to purchase with background checks and suggesting that if the permits are repealed, background checks will be repealed as well.
But repealing a state-issued permit to purchase has nothing to do with federal background checks.
In North Carolina’s present system, potential handgun purchasers have to acquire a permit to purchase from a local sheriff before they are allowed to go buy a handgun. State Reps. Jacqueline Shaffer (R-Mecklenburg) and John Faircloth (R-Guilford) believe a streamlined system—where North Carolinians don’t have to get a permit to exercise their Second Amendment rights—is a better approach, so they have put forward House Bill 562.
HB 562 would get the state government out of the way so North Carolinians can buy handguns without first asking the state for permission via the permit to purchase requirement. And HB 562 would in no way impact federal background checks, which every North Carolinian will still have to pass every time they buy a handgun from a retail outlet.
Yet, Everytown is airing a television ad that uses leading questions to make North Carolinians think HB 562 equals a repeal of background checks for handguns.
Accroding to WRAL, the ad says: “The Second Amendment goes hand-in-hand with common-sense gun laws, so why do some lawmakers in Raleigh want to repeal North Carolina’s handgun background check system?”
Again—HB 562 does not repeal background checks for handguns. It simply gets the state government out of the way so North Carolinians are not required to get a permit in order to exercise Second Amendment rights.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.