North Carolina lawmakers reconvened in Raleigh this week with Republicans intent on trying to override a string of vetoes from Gov. Josh Stein, including two bills dealing with the right to keep and bear arms. So far they’ve been successful at enshrining one bill into law despite the governor’s opposition. The second bill is still awaiting action in the House, though, and it’s unclear whether it will get a vote at all.
First, the good news. The legislature successfully adopted HB 193 with a veto-proof majority in both chambers, which means that as of December 1, private schools across the state will be able to put policies in place allowing trained and vetted staff to lawfully carry on campus to serve as a first line of defense in case of an attack on school grounds.
Stein claimed in a veto message that the measure would make students less safe, arguing that school resource officers are the only ones who should have guns on a school campus. SRO’s are great, but they’re not really an option for many private schools. HB 193 at least gives these schools the option of having trained staff members in place who can protect kids on campus if, God forbid, someone decides to target them.
We’ll see how many schools take advantage of the new law, as well as if they face any challenges in doing so. In some states, schools that have wanted to adopt armed school staff have run into issues with their insurance companies jacking up their premiums by tens of thousands of dollars. If that happens in North Carolina lawmakers may have pass additional legislation aimed at giving these schools some relief or cracking down on those insurers who are standing in the way of student safety.
While Senate Republicans have a veto-proof majority, House Republicans are one seat shy of a veto-proof majority of their own. The lower chamber was able to override Stein’s veto of HB 193 because one Democrat lawmaker crossed over and voted in favor of the bill.
Which brings us to SB 50, the permitless carry bill that’s also the subject of a veto override attempt. The Senate has done its part, approving the measure on a veto-proof party line vote earlier this week, but as of Thursday morning the House has yet to take up the bill.
During the regular session two Republican House members voted against the legislation, and another ten GOP lawmakers were absent for the vote. There were no Democrats in favor of the bill, so passing the bill with a veto-proof majority is going to be tricky. Even if all ten of the Republicans who were absent the first time around vote to adopt SB 50, several Democrats will have to be absent from the chamber in order for supporters to have a veto-proof majority. Heck, even if those two Republicans who voted against permitless carry the first time around (who’ve been branded the “Treachery Twins” by Grassroots North Carolina) switch their votes at least one Democrat would need to absent themselves or abstain from voting to get the bill across the finish line.
Grassroots NC has been intensely lobbying lawmakers, with members turning out at the capitol building in Raleigh on Wednesday to push for the bill’s passage. House leadership has indicated they won’t bring SB 50 to the floor unless they’re confident it will pass, and as of Thursday morning the legislation is stuck in a holding pattern. North Carolina gun owners need to keep the pressure on Reps. Ted Davis and Bill Brisson to flip their votes and support SB 50 this time around, and keep their fingers crossed that one or more Democrats either sit on their hands or absent themselves for an extended bathroom break so the votes are there to make North Carolina the 30th state to adopt a permitless carry law.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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