Few gun laws generate as much misinformation as permitless or “constitutional” carry of concealed firearms. Last year, South Carolina became the 29th permitless carry state, meaning the law now encompasses 46.8% of Americans and 67.7% of the US.
North Carolina’s General Assembly is considering two proposals to remove the need for “permission slips” to carry concealed handguns. They are House Bill 5, “NC Constitutional Carry Act,” sponsored by Reps. Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort; Jay Adams, R-Catawba; Ben Moss, R-Richmond; and Brian Echevarria, R-Cabarrus; and Senate Bill 50, “Freedom to Carry NC,” by Sens. Danny Britt, R-Robeson; Warren Daniel, R-Burke; and Eddie Settle, R-Wilkes.
Proposals for permitless carry aren’t new. I helped draft what we called “Vermont carry” back in 1997. In 2017, HB 746 passed the NC House but died in the Senate. Last year, HB 189 cleared two House committees before being yanked from the calendar.
Deterring violent crime
Each time we expand concealed carry, doomsayers prophesy “The Apocalypse.” When we passed concealed handgun permits, op-eds forecast shootouts at traffic lights… which never happened. When we included restaurants, they said drunks would shoot each other in bars… which never happened. When we legalized firearms in locked motor vehicles on educational property, they predicted gunfights at football games… which (you guessed it) never happened.
Like permitted carry, permitless carry is intended not only for personal protection, but to deter violent crime. Despite grim prognostications for states adopting it, a 2024 report by Carlisle Moody and John R. Lott concluded, “[Right to carry] states have experienced significantly lower murder rates than those states that did not adopt RTC laws…Constitutional carry states, allowing the concealed carrying of handguns with no permit requirements, have experienced even larger declines in murder rates.”
As Lott describes in “More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws,” “shall-issue” concealed handgun permit laws deter violent criminals who, predictably, avoid armed victims. States with higher rates of concealed carry experience fewer murders, rapes, and aggravated assaults.
Unfortunately, the permitting process prevents some law-abiding (and only law-abiding) people from carrying firearms, denying them basic civil rights and reducing deterrence. During COVID, Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker tried to stop issuing permits altogether. My organization, Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC), has won four suits against urban sheriffs’ obstructionism, including defeating Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden’s many schemes for obstruction (an exercise akin to “Whack-A-Mole).”
The accompanying survey graphic depicts firearm carry rates for general election voters. Note that permitless carry states have higher total carry rates (28.1%) than both right-to-carry permit states (24.4%) and “may-issue” (discretionary) permit states (15.8%). Again, higher rates of carry create stronger deterrence of crime.
What HB 5 and SB 50 do
Ironically, HB 5 and SB 50 get blasted not only by gun ban advocates, but also some gun rights supporters who complain they aren’t “pure” constitutional carry or, according to one misinformed YouTube guru, are “dangerous” by “disarming” gun carriers. (They do not.)
HB 5 and SB 50 enable concealed handgun carry without permits, but only for people who would otherwise qualify for a permit, and only under the same restrictions applied to permitted carry.
Under the bills, people with recent DUIs, disqualifying crimes, active substance addiction or anything else making them ineligible for concealed handgun permits cannot legally carry concealed without permits. Permitless concealed carriers must abide by the same restrictions as permit-holders (e.g. zero blood alcohol, no carry in government buildings or public demonstrations, limited carry on educational property). The present concealed handgun permit system will remain intact for gun purchases and out-of-state reciprocity.
Creating confusion, the legislation contains language which appears to impose new restrictions on gun owners, but actually regulates only permitless concealed carry, applying to permitless carriers the same restrictions already applicable to permitted carry.
“But the bills aren’t ‘pure’ constitutional carry.” With 29 states and 29 different versions of permitless carry, “pure” constitutional carry probably doesn’t exist. With additional freedoms but no new restrictions, they represent progress in the incremental struggle to regain rights usurped over generations.
“But permitless carry doesn’t require training.” Versions of the law have been enacted in 29 states without significant reported problems.
“But this will let criminals carry guns!” Felons already carry guns. According to the Media Research Center, our state suffers four George Soros-backed prosecutors who refuse to prosecute felons in possession of firearms. Carolina Journal’s David Larson recently wrote that between 2014 and 2018, 68% of felons in possession in Mecklenburg County and 45% in Wake County were not prosecuted. In Mecklenburg, felons had up to 40 dismissals.
WRAL reported that Durham’s district attorney, Satana Deberry, makes a policy of dismissing felon-in-possession charges. Translated, criminals already carry guns, but you can’t without a permit that you might not be able to get.
Despite flaws, HB 5 and SB 50 offer progress in personal protection and crime deterrence. With 29 “red” states having passed permitless carry, our Republican-controlled legislature has fallen behind. Yes, Democrat Gov. Josh Stein will veto it; and yes, NC House Republicans are one seat shy of the supermajority to override said veto. But they overrode a veto while one seat shy in repealing Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permits and can do it again for permitless carry.
