Blood on their hands: NCGOP’s repeal of pistol permit law led to surge in pistol sales, played a role in UNC professor’s murder
On March 29, 2023, Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly overrode Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 41, a bill that repealed the state’s 104-year-old, life-saving pistol purchase permit system.
North Carolina had an effective pistol purchase permit system that prevented buyers from taking advantage of background check loopholes. Now, residents who buy handguns from private sellers online, at gun shows, or in their community don’t have to go through a background check to buy a pistol like they are required when purchasing from a federally licensed shop. That means it’s now even easier for North Carolinians to buy handguns.
The bill went into effect after Cooper’s veto was overridden and just a year later we have already seen the deadly consequences of the NCGOP’s actions.
As Sara Smith, organizing director of the North Carolinians Against Gun Violence Action Fund writes in The News & Observer, the student charged with killing UNC Professor Zijie Yan on Aug. 28, 2023, “appears to have circumvented a background check by purchasing from a private seller several months after lawmakers passed SB41.”
As if having blood on their hands wasn’t enough for Republicans, they also lied about funding a safe firearm storage awareness campaign. The bill was supposed to create a campaign to educate the public about safe storage, as well as distribute gun locks around the state, but Republicans put no money for the campaign in the bill.
Gov. Cooper was able to use other available funds to launch the NC S.A.F.E. program, and a federal grant was used to provide funding for it, but only for this year. The program will run out of money early next year.
The safe storage program is extremely important because gun sales surged immediately after SB41 became law. According to The Trace, the month before SB41 went into effect saw 2,016 handgun sales in the state – and the month after there were 52,532 handgun sales. Of course, without being able to properly track all handgun sales, the true total was likely even higher.
