Agreement Reached On HB 937

The Conference Committee hammering out differences between the Senate version and the House version of HB 937 has reported back to the North Carolina General Assembly with an amended bill which can be found here.

The bill has been put on the legislative calendar for an up-down vote tomorrow. I would expect it to pass.

I will have more on the changes as I read the Committee's report.

UPDATE: The bill stays the same except for Sections 17 and 18.  The changes include:

• Section 17.1 drops the word "license" from § 14-403.
• Section 17.2(a) changes § 14-404 to require that a person denied a pistol purchase permit be given the reason for the denial; that the denial include specific facts as to why the applicant was denied including listing by statute number the applicable law. 
•  Section 17.2(a) requires the sheriff to keep a list of denials, minus the personally identifying information, including the specific reason for a denial as a public record.
• Section 17.2(a) requires the Clerk of Court to send records to the NICS System within 48 hours of being notified of any judicial finding, court order, or other factual matters that would cause a person to be denied a permit under
  § 14-404
•  Section 17.2(a) sets the cost of a purchase permit at $5; does not allow any limit on the number or frequency of permits issued to an individual; does not allow the sheriff charge extra for the investigation, processing, or medical background checks; and requires either a permit or denial be given to the applicant within 14 days.
• Section 17.2(a) requires the revocation of a permit for anything that happens subsequent to the permit's issuance that would have denied a permit in the first place. Also required is that the permit holder surrender his or her permit when notified of its revocation.
• Section 17.2(b) requires a report from the Administrative Office of the Courts regarding the implementation of the Clerk of Court NICS System notification requirement.
• Section 17.2(c) sets the effective date for NICS System notification at July 1, 2014; for the remainder of Section 17.2(a) at October 1, 2013; and for the rest of Section 17 immediately upon becoming law.
• Section 17.3 requires the sheriff of a county to examine the validity of all outstanding permits by January 31, 2014. If there are any that would be subject to revocation, he or she is to take steps as detailed above. A report is required from each sheriff on results of their review by March 31, 2014.
• Section 17.4 requires sheriffs to keep a record of permits issued as well as denials. These records are non-public and confidential.
• Section 18 just makes a minor clerical change to GS 14-315(b1)(1) which concerns a prohibition on giving or selling weapons to minors.