Two days after three children and three adults were shot dead at a school in neighbouring Tennessee, Republicans in North Carolina repealed a state requirement that purchasers of pistols obtain a permit from a sheriff.
The enacted bill will also allow guns on some school properties where religious services are held.
The Republican-controlled North Carolina legislature successfully overrode a veto by the Democratic governor, Roy Cooper, for the first time since 2018.
The state House voted 71-46 – over Cooper’s objections in last week’s veto message – to eliminate the longstanding handgun purchase system, which among other things required sheriffs to perform character evaluations of applicants. The state senate voted to override the veto on Tuesday.
Cooper and Democratic lawmakers warned the repeal, which takes effect immediately, will allow more dangerous people to obtain weapons through private sales, which do not require a background check, and limit law enforcement’s ability to stop them committing violent crimes.
Supporters of the bill said the sheriff screening process to buy a pistol was no longer necessary in light of significant updates to the national background check system, and that the permit requirement did not serve as a crime deterrent.
In the Tennessee school shooting, the shooter carried an automatic rifle, an automatic pistol and a handgun.
In North Carolina, Republican gains in last year’s elections gave them a veto-proof margin in the senate but left them one seat shy of such a majority in the house.
On Wednesday, the house vote tally showed three Democrats failed to vote on the override, creating a margin to meet the constitutional requirement.
Start the day with the top stories from the US, plus the day’s must-reads from across the Guardian
“,”styles”:”
“,”newsletterId”:”us-morning-newsletter”,”successDescription”:”We’ll send you First Thing every weekday”}” clientonly=”true”>Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion
Republicans needed one Democrat to join them, or two Democrats not to vote.
In 2021, Cooper successfully blocked standalone bills that contained the pistol purchase permit repeal and the ability for some congregants to carry a weapon at church services held at private schools.
At that time, Democrats had enough seats to block any override attempt.
( Information from politico.com was used in this report. Also if you have any problem of this article or if you need to remove this articles, please email here and we will delete this immediately. [email protected] )