North Carolina Sheriff Denying Carry Permits to Those Who’ve Sought Treatment for Drugs, Alcohol

Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Sheriff Garry McFadden has been the topic of numerous stories here at Bearing Arms, including a recent post by my colleague Tom Knighton that touched on McFadden’s alleged racial epithets directed at both black and white deputies. While McFadden’s allegedly abusive leadership has led to the departure of several top officials within the sheriff’s department, his animosity towards gun owners and the right to carry has also prompted a number of court fights with Second Amendment organizations and residents who say they’ve been unfairly denied a concealed carry permit. 

McFadden has subjected applicants to needless and extensive delays by demanding health records from the VA, even when applicants never belonged to the military. But as both Lee Williams and Charlotte TV station WCNC have reported, McFadden has also been denying (and in some cases, revoking) carry permits to individuals who’ve previously sought treatment or help with drinking or drug use. 

Court records show MCSO has denied concealed carry permits in recent years for people whose health records last noted addiction as far back as 1991. 

When someone applies for a gun permit, they give the sheriff’s office the right to review their mental health history. Under the law, if that person is found to be an “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance,” they cannot get a permit.

A sheriff’s office internal document, obtained by WCNC Charlotte, concludes if mental health records show a person is addicted or has attended Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous or detox, “no matter the year,” employees should deny them. 

Gun owner Chris Cranston could not believe it when MCSO came to revoke his permits in 2021, citing health records that noted nightly marijuana use a year prior.

“On Easter weekend, Saturday night, a totally mind-blowing event. It was like, ‘The tyrants are here,'” Cranston recalled. “I told the (nurse) I had tried some different things to try to fall asleep. I told them I had tried the CBD. It wasn’t even helping me sleep. It was like a weeklong experiment. They used that…to revoke my gun rights.”

Local attorney Ron Shook has represented several gun owners who’ve successfully appealed their denials after McFadden’s office rejected their permit applicants, and he told WCNC that, while folks from all walks of life have been impacted, veterans are disproportionately being denied access to their right to keep and bear arms.

Shook believes in redemption. He said federal law supports that too. The law defines an addict as someone who has remained a habitual user endangering others or has lost the power of self-control.

“Those are the individuals that we should be talking about while they are in the throws of addiction, not the guy who is in AA and has been working the program for 20 years,” Shook said. “This issue is a really personal one to me. My mother’s an addict and I grew up going to AA and playing with the children in the rooms, as we called them, so I understand addiction. I don’t believe that someone who, in the past has had an issue, that that issue should define them for the rest of their life.”

Shook’s right, and McFadden’s stance is only likely to lead to some folks deciding not to seek treatment or help because they fear what it will mean to their Second Amedment rights. According to WCNC, McFadden’s office has produced a memo instructing deputies to deny permits to essentially anyone and everyone who’s sought help in the past, to the point that attending a single AA meeting decades ago would be a basis for denial. 

When WCNC pressed McFadden on his policy the sheriff tried to duck responsibility, telling a reporter that it’s just a “process of the judicial system.”

“Tell me why are you all consistently denying conceal carry permits for people in active recovery?” WCNC Charlotte asked the sheriff as he walked outside the courthouse on Nov. 6.

“It is a process, an appeal process,” McFadden replied. “They have time to appeal it.”

“It costs thousands of dollars to appeal,” WCNC Charlotte pushed back.

“That’s a process,” the sheriff again said. “It’s a process.”

“So, you’re putting the responsibility on those people?” WCNC Charlotte replied.

“No. No, that’s a responsibility of their rights,” McFadden said.

“They are in active recovery, some people for 30 years and you’re denying them,” WCNC Charlotte said.

“I denied them?” the sheriff replied.

“Your office is denying them. How is that fair?” WCNC Charlotte asked.

“Process of the judicial system,” the sheriff said yet again. “Process of the judicial system.”

“But the process starts with you,” WCNC Charlotte added.

Many of those denials have been overturned by the courts, which casts a great deal of doubt on McFadden’s claims that he’s just following the law. The process of obtaining a concealed carry license shouldn’t depend on having to hire an attorney and fork over thousands of dollars in legal fees, but that’s been the experience for hundreds of Mecklenburg County residents over the years.

In the Bruen case, the Supreme Court held that even “shall issue” systems could violate the Second Amendment if they involve excessive fees or lengthy delays. While the Court didn’t say anything specifically about falsely labeling someone an addict or denying permits based on decades-old treatment for substance abuse, the fact that McFadden’s denials have been overturned dozens of times by judges in North Carolina is a pretty good indication that his policy wouldn’t fare well under a direct legal challenge. 

I’m not convinced that denying even active user of “unlawful” drugs comports with the Second Amendment, but I know that telling someone who’s been sober for decades that they have no right to keep and bear arms is a flagrant violation of their civil rights. The Second Amendment Foundation’s Lee Williams has described McFadden as one of the worst sheriffs in the country, and honestly, I think he’s at the very top of my list. I’m amazed that the voters in Mecklenburg County keep returning him to office, but if they won’t hold him to account then it’s up to 2A groups like SAF, GOA, and Grassroots NC to use the courts and halt his repeated abuses of our fundamental rights.