Guns and North Carolina Senate Bill 50

If you ever had children you know the challenges of the Terrible Twos and the Teen Years. The Teen Years especially at times seem designed to give parents premature white hair. Yet, the North Carolina Legislature would like to allow 18 and 19 year olds to waltz into a gun shop, purchase a gun, no permit, no training, and carry that gun in whatever manner they please.

North Carolina Senate Bill 50, “Freedom to Carry NC” — sponsored by Senators Danny Britt, Warren Daniel, and Eddie Settle – was filed February 4, 2025. The bill was predictably vetoed by Governor Josh Stein on June 20 and returned to the Legislature. Stein’s veto was overridden by the Senate on July 29. But SB50 seems to have met with some cautious minds in the General Assembly and calendered, for the third time, for September 22, 2025.

Behind SB50 is the US Constitution’s Second Amendment.

Also predictably, Gun Owners of America emphatically responded to the veto of SB50. Here is an excerpt of their press release of July 23.

“We have reached a critical point in the fight for Constitutional Carry in North Carolina. As you know, Senate Bill 50, “Freedom to Carry NC,” successfully passed both the House and Senate this legislative session, a testament to your collective advocacy and the tireless efforts of state groups such as Grass Roots North Carolina.

However, last month anti-gun Governor Josh Stein chose to veto SB 50. This decision is a direct challenge to the fundamental rights of law-abiding gun owners across the state.”

Now, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms,” as stated in our Constitution’s Amendment II, absolutely must not be infringed. This Just Vote No Blog stands by the obvious truth that without the Second Amendment, all other Amendments are meaningless. Our Founders were totally clear that governments can go rogue, and without arms the people have no way to fight back.

Therefore, organizations like the Gun Owners of America are absolutely correct in defending the “fundamental rights of law-abiding gun owners.”

But what’s wrong with this picture?

Over the years, we have gone from rural families who used rifles for hunting and self defense, to an urban society with these statistics:

* About eight-in-ten US. murders in 2023 – 17,927 out of 22,830, or 79% – involved a firearm.

* More than half of all suicides in 2023 – 27,300 out of 49,316, or 55% – also involved a gun.

So, in a valiant effort to deal with this most unfortunate situation laws were passed to ensure that guns were only allowed in the hands of “law abiding” individuals.

Dutifully, North Carolina’s Senate Bill 50 sports a laundry list of folks who cannot own a gun, like felons, fugitives, addicts, mentally incapacitated, dishonorably discharged from the armed forces.

However, in North Carolina gun dealers not federally licensed can freely sell arms without any requirements for purchasers background checks. Their only responsibility is to avoid “knowingly” selling a firearm to anybody who by law cannot have one. Under such circumstances, how SB50 can limit the blessings of gun ownership only to the “law abiding” seems unclear.

Meanwhile a day does not go by without the news reporting someone being shot, fatally or otherwise. Youth remains hotheaded and eager to solve challenges by pressing a trigger. Mothers and fathers lose their children to suicides by firearms.

A balance of facts is needed.

The US has a sizable number of engaged voters, the highest rate of private gun ownership in the world, and the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 which slows down (obviously not stops given recent events) US military action in US soil. Thus the likelihood of our government going rogue is not high.

Conversely, a report published by the Tampa Bay Times dated February 7, 2024 is much more clear in the likelihood of a youth 18 to 20 harming someone with a gun:

“Crime data in the United States is notoriously incomplete, but experts agreed that general trends from state and FBI data show people ages 18 to 20 — and in many datasets people in their early to mid-20s — are likelier to commit deadly shootings than other age groups.”

The North Carolina legislature needs to do further reflection on Senate Bill 50. Legislators, especially those with children, need to acknowledge that teens have developing – not developed – brains. Legislators also need to acknowledge that they are not being entirely honest placing the laundry list of who cannot have a gun, when North Carolina allows for gun sales without any background checks.

Yes, the Second Amendment is what really keeps the nation’s populace free. And we have more than enough brave law abiding adult citizens to ensure our freedom. Facilitating more guns in the hands of teens does not seem wise or necessary.

Picture:

Memorial for 14 year old Lyric Woods and 17 year old Devin Clark, who on September 17, 2022, were shot to death. Suspect is Issiah Mehki Ross, 17 years old at the time of the murders. New York Post, November 8, 2022.