There are now 29 states with Constitutional or permitless carry laws in place, but the chances of adding more states to the ranks this year are pretty daunting. The best opportunity might be in North Carolina, where Republicans hold a near veto-proof majority in the House and have a veto-proof majority in the state Senate. Still, unless Second Amendment advocates can convince at least one Democrat in the House to vote in favor of strengthening the right to keep and bear arms, Constitutional Carry is almost certain to be killed off in a veto by Gov. Josh Stein, even if it’s broadly approved by the legislature.
According to Grassroots NC, Rep. Keith Kidwell will be re-introducing a Constitutional Carry bill in the coming days, and the group is hoping to rally support for the measure this Wednesday at the General Assembly building in Raleigh. Beginning at 8:30 Wednesday morning volunteers will doing a literature drop to “start prepping the legislature for passage of several pieces of pro-gun legislation”, including Constitutional Carry.
Ahead of the event the 2A group is asking North Carolina gun owners to sign an online petition to lawmakers urging them to get on board and protect the right to carry from government overreach. The petition points out that “no other right enumerated in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights requires governmental permission merely to exercise a fundamental natural right”, and notes that more than half the country has already adopted similar laws, with none of them reversing course and repealing permitless carry after its been implemented.
It remains to be seen if Constitutional Carry will be a priority for either the House or Senate this year, but Republican leadership already blew the best opportunity to enshrine the bill into law by refusing to take up the measure last session. After the GOP supermajority successfully overrode then-Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill repealing the state’s permit-to-purchase law in 2023, Senate President Phil Berger refused to push forward on Constitutional Carry, telling reporters he didn’t know that there was “any need… to delve into additional issues dealing with guns and people’s Second Amendment rights.”
Berger’s reticence continued in 2024, and Kidwell’s bill never got much traction in either chamber despite the veto-proof majority. If Republicans were hoping to keep their margins intact by playing it safe, their gambit failed last November when Democrat Bryan Cohn defeated incumbent Rep. Frank Sossamon by just 228 votes and ended the Republican’s supermajority status in the lower chamber.
Cohn ran on an anti-MAGA platform, and while his campaign website was silent on Second Amendment issues he’s certainly not a lock to back Constitutional Carry. It’s an open question as to whether any Democrat in the House will be willing to buck Stein and party leadership in order to cross the aisle and vote with Republicans to make North Carolina the 30th Constitutional Carry state in the nation, and frankly, there might be a couple of Republican legislators who need convincing from their constituents as well.
Still, if we’re going to expand the Constitutional Carry map in 2025, North Caroina’s the best opportunity for a pickup. It’ll take a full court press from gun owners in the state, and perhaps a little arm twisting from GOP leadership as well, but with some work and some luck we just might be able to get it done.
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