Giffords Applauds North Carolina State Senator Jay Chaudhuri for Introducing Gun Safety Package that Will Help Keep Communities in the State Safer

May 24, 2018

May 23, 2018 — Giffords, the gun safety organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Captain Mark Kelly, applauded North Carolina state senator Jay Chaudhuri for introducing a gun safety package that would improve North Carolina’s gun laws and save lives.

“After Parkland, leaders across the country have listened to calls for action and ignored attacks from the gun lobby to introduce solutions in state houses across the country, that can save lives. Senator Chaudhuri is continuing this trend by sponsoring a comprehensive gun safety package that would go a long way toward addressing the gun violence crisis that hurts North Carolina families and communities,” said Nico Bocour, State Legislative Director at Giffords. “This legislation will help keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals and those at risk of harming themselves or others. North Carolina has the opportunity to join other states in taking meaningful action to protect their communities since the tragedy in Parkland, FL. We applaud Senator Chaudhuri’s courage and look forward to working with him to pass this legislation which will help keep North Carolinians safer from gun violence.

The most recent edition of the Giffords Law Center’s annual gun law scorecard gave North Carolina a D- . The state had the 21st highest rate of gun deaths per capita among states in 2016, according to the Giffords Law Center and the 25th highest rate of crime gun exports that same year. Since Parkland, 15 states that have signed 25 gun safety bills since Parkland alone.

Senator Chaudhuri’s legislation would:

Implement an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO):The ERPO is a civil court process that empowers family or household members or law enforcement to present sworn evidence to a judge when a loved one or community member exhibits extreme warning signs of dangerousness. If the judge determines that there is sufficient evidence of dangerousness, the court may issue an ERPO to temporarily suspend a dangerous person’s ability to purchase or possess firearms. A common thread in many shootings is that family members of the shooters had observed clear warning signs that their loved one posed an extreme risk of harming themselves or others – even before any violence occurred. The ERPO would allow North Carolinians to proactively speak for safety to prevent these tragedies.
Extend background check and permit-to-purchase requirements to all firearms. This provision would require prospective purchasers to obtain a permit, pursuant to a background check, in order to buy rifles, shotguns, and assault weapons. Currently, North Carolina residents must obtain permits and pass a background check to buy a handgun but not other firearms.
Impose a minimum age of 18 for purchase and possession of rifles and shotguns and 21 for possession of assault weapons. North Carolina generally requires people to be aged 18 or above to possess handguns outside the presence of an adult but has no minimum age restrictions to own or purchase rifles and shotguns, including assault weapons favored by mass shooters. This bill would generally require that a person reach 18 years of age to own or acquire firearms and 21 years of age to own or acquire assault weapons.
Ban bump stocks and trigger cranks.Bump stocks—specialized rifle stocks that allow shooters to more accurately bump fire rifles without compromising accuracy—are legal to be sold and not regulated by the federal government. In October 2017, a gunman in Las Vegas used bump stocks to convert semiautomatic firearms into weapons that fired 9 rounds per second, resulting in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

For more information, visit the Giffords Law Center page on North Carolina gun laws.

###