NORTH CAROLINA: HOUSE PASSES REPEAL OF THE PISTOL PERMIT

Update 8/20/21

Back on June 8, 2021, the Greater Greensboro Republican Women’s Club (GGRWC) Blog had a post that addressed House Bill 398. This bill proposed to repeal the pistol permit in favor of the federal NICS background check.

On Wednesday, the NC Senate voted 27-20 to pass this House bill. It will now go to Governor Roy Cooper for his consideration, and hopefully, his signature.

This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to pistols sold, given away, transferred, purchased, or received on or after that date.

Demetria Carter

Back at the beginning of May 2021, the North Carolina House passed House Bill 398, a bill to repeal the pistol permit in favor of the federal National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Supported by the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association and authored by Representative Jay Adams, the bill eliminates the need for sheriffs to approve and issue individual pistol purchase permits. Said Adams, “it is duplicative, costly and an unnecessary burden on law enforcement and law-abiding gun owners.” Section 3 of the bill covers “pistols sold, given away, transferred, purchased, or received” on or after the date the bill is signed into law.

This seems a positive step in the right direction. As a transplant from the State of Maryland, which uses NICS, the process was fairly simple. I picked out a firearm at a local gun store. The sales agent took my information and electronically filed the necessary paperwork directly with NICS. ( It can also be done over the telephone.) I paid for the gun (and maybe a fee for the NICS background check) and left the store. A couple of weeks later, the gun store sales agent called and told me I passed the NICS background check and could come to the store and pick up the gun I had purchased. When I did, I also received my own Federal Firearms License (FFL).

The NICS is NOT a centralized federal registration database in which personal information about yourself and your gun is stored, and, therefore, accessible. According to Wikipedia –

The [NICS] Background Check System is a background check system in the United States created by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 to prevent firearm sales to people prohibited under the Act. The system was launched by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1998. Under the system, firearm dealers, manufacturers or importers who hold a [FFL] are required to undertake a NICS background check on prospective buyers before transferring a firearm. The NICS is not a gun register, but is a list of persons prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm. The buyer’s details are discarded after the query and a record on NICS of the firearm purchase is not made, though the seller as a FFL holder is required to keep a record of the transaction.