HB 650 Passes Committee Vote In NC General Assembly

HB 650 - the omnibus bill that amends a number of North Carolina's firearms laws - passed out of the House Judiciary C Subcommittee today. Grass Roots North Carolina issued this on the passage.

HB 650, the massive gun bill we have been telling you about is now passed in House Judiciary C Sub-Committee. We now need you to contact the full House list to express your support for this important bill.

To recap:

HB 650 is a huge and aggressive bill, meaning it will be difficult to pass. But if passed, it will go far toward reversing the creeping encroachment on gun owners' rights perpetuated in previous sessions of the legislature, including (but not limited to):

• Castle Doctrine (yet another vehicle for popular Castle Doctrine is now moving);
• Reducing penalties for carrying firearms on "educational property," including a protection against accidentally becoming a criminal by requiring that offenders "knowingly" brought the gun onto educational property;
• Enabling concealed carry at events for which admission is charged;
• Reducing penalties for a host of minor (often inadvertent) gun violations;
• Adding protections for gun owners whose guns are confiscated pursuant to domestic protective orders;
• Improves concealed handgun reciprocity to straight recognition of out-of-state permits;
• Removes provisions for concealed handgun applicants under which sheriffs are conducting intrusive investigations of medical history; and
• Enabling employees to keep guns in locked vehicles at places of employment.

Checking the legislative calendar for the rest of the week, this bill has not been put on the calendar for the 2nd and 3rd reading. Unless it passes out of the State House by June 9th, it can't be considered for passage in the 2012 session of the General Assembly.