June 2, 2015
House Speaker Tim Moore
North Carolina House of Representatives
16 W. Jones Street, Room 2304
Raleigh, NC 27601-1096
Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger
North Carolina Senate
16 W. Jones Street, Room 2007
Raleigh, NC 27601-2808
Re: New data reaffirms critical importance of NC handgun background checks system
Dear President Berger and Speaker Moore,
We write to express our strong opposition to House Bill 562, which would repeal the state background checks
system for handgun purchases—and to share new evidence that reaffirms the critical role of background
checks. We urge you to reject this dangerous bill, which would enable thousands of violent criminals to evade
background checks and buy handguns.
Under decades-old state law, no person may purchase a handgun in North Carolina without passing a criminal
background check and obtaining a purchase permit from his or her local sheriff.1 Our system provides an
additional layer of protection beyond federal law—which, unlike North Carolina law, allows violent criminals
to evade background checks by shopping with unlicensed sellers.
With HB 562 now pending in the General Assembly, we have obtained data from county sheriffs that
demonstrates the critical role played by the existing permit system in our own counties and statewide:
• Five of the six most populous NC counties denied 3,405 permits in 2014
• At this rate, NC sheriffs would have denied 10,826 permits statewide in 2014
County
Mecklenburg
Wake
Guilford
Forsyth
Durham
294,460
3%
5-County
Total
3,127,556
31%
State
(estimated)
9,943,964
100%
Population
Share of
NC Pop.
Permit
Denials
990,977
10%
974,289
10%
506,610
5%
361,220
4%
1,671
677
457
565
35
3,405
10,826
The denials in those five counties account for roughly one-third of the state population, and include convicted
felons and domestic abusers.
The pistol purchase permit system is the only mechanism that blocks these thousands of would-be handgun
buyers from getting armed with no questions asked. If HB 562 becomes law, any of these dangerous people
can simply find an unlicensed stranger online or at a gun show, and buy a handgun with no background check.
We are mayors of big cities and small towns in North Carolina, and the safety of our citizens and the law
enforcement officers who protect them is our highest priority. We are on the front lines in the fight to reduce
gun violence and we see firsthand the devastation of violence in our communities. We console families of the
victims; we visit police officers in the hospital; and we go to funerals when North Carolinians are shot and
killed.
To protect the lives of our constituents, we must be empowered to enforce our gun laws, and our background
check system is a vital law enforcement tool. It saves lives and keeps guns out of the hands of felons, domestic
abusers, and others who are prohibited by law from possessing them.
Nationally, our background check system has blocked more than 2.3 million sales to felons, domestic abusers
and other prohibited purchasers since 1998, debunking the myth that criminals won’t submit to background
checks. North Carolina is one of 18 states (plus the District of Columbia) that requires background checks not
just for sales by licensed gun dealers, but also for handgun buyers that buy from unlicensed sellers. HB 562
would remove North Carolina from that group, moving our state backwards. Another U.S. state has already
made this mistake, and it paid a high price. When the state of Missouri repealed background checks for
private firearm sales in 2007, it saw a 25 percent spike in the overall gun homicide rate, an average of 68
additional homicides every year.2
Here in North Carolina, people understand that a criminal background check is a key part of enforcing our
laws. In fact, 87 percent of likely voters here, including strong majorities of gun owners and concealed
carry permit holders, support background checks for all handgun sales.3
As mayors, we walk the streets of our cities and towns every day, and we understand what works to protect the
lives of our citizens. We urge you to help us keep North Carolina families safe by protecting our criminal
background check requirement for all handgun sales.
Sincerely,
Carrboro Mayor Lydia Lavelle
Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt
Charlotte Mayor Daniel Clodfelter
Creedmoor Mayor Darryl Moss
Durham Mayor Bill Bell
Hillsborough Mayor Tom Stevens
Huntersville Mayor Jill Swain
Oxford Mayor Jaqueline Sergent
Ronda Mayor Victor Varela
Winston-Salem Mayor J. Allen Joines
CC: Governor Pat McCrory, Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest
1
A buyer may alternatively pass a criminal background check and obtain a concealed handgun permit from his or
her county sheriff.
2
http://every.tw/1JMiyJd
3
http://bit.ly/1DCOCu2