Recent changes in concealed carry laws have spawned a rash of interesting but fanciful comments. For instance, on the July 28 edition of NC Spin, former N.C. House Speaker Joe Mavretic commented about recent changes in concealed carry laws. One statement left me shaking my head.
“The thing that seems to be missing here is that to get a permit, you have to be trained. And Lord knows if there’s one thing we need with the right to carry and bear arms is the responsibility to know how to carry and bear arms,” he said.
The former speaker either misspoke or revealed serious ignorance regarding the training a person needs to be issued a permit to carry a concealed handgun under North Carolina law. Mavretic’s lack of clarity on the laws governing concealed carry probably reflects a more general ignorance in this state.
Has North Carolina’s legislature turned North Carolina into some version of the Wild West, just a step away from a near perpetual gunfight at the OK Corral?
Let’s begin with training. A person who wants to apply for a permit to carry a concealed handgun must complete an eight-hour class that meticulously explains and then tests the knowledge necessary to carry responsibly.
The “Concealed Carry Handgun Training” course, developed by the North Carolina Justice Academy, covers legal issues, especially those governing the use of deadly force; handgun safety; a general overview of handguns; marksmanship fundamentals; presentation techniques; cleaning and maintenance; ammunition; and proficiency drills.
At the conclusion of the eight hours — or more — of classroom instruction, the student must pass a written test on this material.
After completing the classroom portion, the student must toe the firing line and show competence with a handgun. Students shoot 10 shots from seven yards (21 feet), 10 shots from five yards and 10 shots from three yards. The student must place at least 21 of those 30 shots in the black area of a silhouette target in order to pass the live fire test. Some instructors require students to fire 40 rounds and put 28 in the black.
The person seeking a permit receives a certificate attesting that he or she has completed the class. Then the paperwork begins. First, a person must complete an application for the concealed carry permit and must also complete a form authorizing mental health information to be released to the sheriff.
Other papers include a form each applicant must sign about keeping firearms secured from children and a form that reminds the applicant of the places concealed carry is not allowed and legal breaches that result in automatic disqualification for the permit.
The last step is furnishing a complete set of finger prints to local law enforcement. A complete set is each finger and thumb printed separately, and then the fingers of each hand printed together. I assume (and we know the danger of assuming) the fingerprints are checked against AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) for criminal background.
Local law enforcement officials have up to 90 days to either issue or deny the permit.
Roughly 400,000 of North Carolina’s 9.75 million people currently hold conceal carry permits. If adults compose half of North Carolina’s population, then 4.875 million adults live in this state. A 2009 study showed that only 57 percent of those who apply for a concealed carry permit receive one.
The New York Times wrote an article to try to show that concealed carry problems were rampant in North Carolina. The end result was the Times had to combine five years of criminal records to find 10 incidents of murder and manslaughter committed by concealed carry permit holders. In fact, the statistics demonstrate that permit holders are significantly more law-abiding than the general population.
Too often, critics simply do not know what they are talking about but give an air of knowing. Too often, critics argue hypotheticals — the never ending “what ifs.” Hypotheticals and a knowing air are not substitutes for facts.
Mike Parker is a columnist for The Free Press. You can reach him at mparker16@suddenlink.net or in care of this newspaper.