On the Heels of a Tragedy: North Carolina Legislature Loosens Gun Laws Despite Yet Another Devastating School Shooting
Thousands of protestors, many school-aged children, converged on Tennessee's capital in the days following the Covenant School shooting to demand gun control reform. Source for photo: The New Republic
March 23, 2023, brought yet another horrendous act of gun violence in the United States. Rather than funny memes or morning talk shows, reports of an attack on an elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee flooded social media and television networks. By the end of the day, police reported that an individual had entered The Covenant School and killed 6 people, 3 of them elementary school children. As the Nashville community mourned lives cut so short by gun violence, the rest of Tennessee sprung into action launching protests at their capitol for gun control reform. The world watched as Tennesseans gathered by the hundreds and demanded their representatives pass gun control reforms.
A short two days later on March 29, 2023, the North Carolina General Assembly passed Senate Bill 41, also known as the “Guarantee 2nd Amend Freedom and Protections Act.” The bill itself is a combination of three previous bills dealing with the broad enforcement of the second amendment. Specifically, the bill has three general sections: requiring permits to purchase a handgun, allowing guns in certain spaces, and safe gun storage. When the bill was first presented to Governor Roy Cooper, it was quickly vetoed. Republican Representative Destin Hall swiftly moved to override Cooper’s veto without any debate on the floor, a motion that was highly contested by Democrats in both chambers. However, the current makeup of the North Carolina legislature gave Republicans the ability to successfully override Governor Cooper’s veto without allowing any floor debate. This marked the first successful veto for the Republican party in North Carolina since 2018.
The bill’s most serious implications come in its first section most commonly referred to as the “pistol permit purchase” section, which ends the requirement to obtain a permit from one’s county sheriff before purchasing a handgun. This section of the bill effectively eliminates county-level background checks and creates loopholes that make purchasing a handgun an easier process. The ambiguity of the bill would allow individuals to obtain handguns without any county, state, or federal background check if purchased through private sale at a gun show or directly from another individual. Republicans who champion the bill claim that requiring an individual to obtain any type of permit before purchasing a gun is an infringement on second amendment rights. The bill, which was pushed through by the GOP, simply eliminated unnecessary bureaucratic processes previously required to purchase a handgun. Those against the bill see the loosening of background checks as an open door to allowing dangerous individuals unfiltered access to firearms. In the words of Governor Roy Cooper the bill “will allow more domestic abusers and other dangerous people to own handguns and reduce law enforcement's ability to stop them from committing violent crimes.”
In addition to Governor Roy Cooper and a multitude of Democratic representatives speaking out against the bill, many pro-gun control organizations in North Carolina have been very vocal in their disapproval of the bill. One of these organizations is the North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action, which describes itself as a “grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence.” In an interview with Jenee Mobley, a volunteer who has been with Moms Demand Action for five years, she described how the organization came about through a Facebook post after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 demanding more be done to prevent gun violence. Mobley asserted Senate Bill 41 as undoing a “life-saving handgun background check that has been on the books for over 100 years.” She also stated that the passing of the bill “has made it easier to obtain firearms at a time when gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and young teens.” Mobley described her time in the North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action as mostly “playing defense,” or trying to ensure that important safeguards concerning firearms are not repealed. Though the passing of Senate Bill 41 is certainly a step back in the eyes of Moms Demand Action, Mobley talked about having hope in the future generation to take gun control seriously and make positive steps toward a society free from gun violence.
While Mobley’s hope for change by the future generation is shared by many, the pertinence of gun violence in the United States has reached an all-time high and change frankly cannot wait for the future generation. The parents of the children murdered in Nashville join an ever-growing list of parents from all over the United States who lost their children to school shootings. Americans were barely allowed to mourn the victims of this shooting before more occurred, with a mass shooting in Lousiville, Kentucky happening not even a month later. Gun violence once again showed that it discriminates against no one. With gun violence becoming par for the course for Americans across the nation, it's time for serious self-reflection about this country’s infatuation with guns. How many mass shootings have to happen? How many children have to die at the hands of gun violence for things to change?
The shooting at The Covenant School should have served as a wake-up call for legislatures to take action, yet we see no change. We’ve never seen change, not after Columbine, not after Sandy Hook, not after Uvalde. If anything, we’ve seen backsliding at the hands of the Republican Party as they happily repeal a gun safety measure that has been in effect in North Carolina for over a century. The passing of Senate Bill 41 shows that North Carolina Republicans are no different in their priorities and that sending “thoughts and prayers” are all they seem willing to do to make their communities safer.
I remember the day after the Sandy Hook shooting when my mom sent me to school sobbing, terrified that she would join the ever-growing list of mourning parents. I’m now a college student who flinches at any loud bang, worrying that my own campus is next. Americans cannot continue to allow kids and young adults to fear for their lives in their places of learning. Americans cannot take no for an answer anymore. Legislators are at a turning point and possess the unique power to change the trajectory of this country. They must begin putting the lives of their electorate over whatever thinly-veiled allegiance they may have to the second amendment. Legislators have to begin shaping laws that promote gun safety and do everything they can to put an end to gun violence in this country. Change has to come.