North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein (D) recently vetoed S.B. 50, titled “Freedom to Carry NC,” the state’s version of permitless carry. The North Carolina General Assembly can override Stein’s veto with a three-fifths majority vote in each chamber, which would then allow S.B. 50 to become law.
“This bill makes North Carolinians less safe and undermines responsible gun ownership. Therefore, I am vetoing it,” said Stein in a press release.
This is a strange and untrue statement, as no data shows that the 29 states that have passed constitutional carry have become less safe as a result. Indeed, Vermont, which is often called the original constitutional-carry state, often ranks at the top or near the top of the “safest” states in the union.
The bill, if passed, would have eliminated the requirement that law-abiding gun owners obtain a permit to carry without seeking government permission. It is, however, not without its flaws and, as such, is not a true constitutional-carry bill.
“The NRA strongly supports constitutional/permitless carry; however, S.B. 50 still has pitfalls that could entrap well-intentioned gun owners despite NRA efforts to amend it,” reported the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (ILA). “S.B. 50, as written, creates scenarios in which a person could lawfully purchase and possess a firearm but would still be prohibited from carrying that firearm for self-defense purposes. While S.B. 50 is a step towards North Carolina becoming the 30th constitutional-carry state, the NRA stands firm in its belief that if an individual is lawfully allowed to purchase and possess a firearm, that person should be allowed to carry that firearm for self-defense without a permit under a true Constitutional Carry bill.”
If North Carolina ultimately puts constitutional carry into law, it will become the 30th state to do so, joining over a dozen other states that have done so in recent years, including Louisiana and South Carolina in 2024.
Constitutional carry’s growing popularity coincides with a growing body of research on concealed carriers. Recently, John Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), for example, published data indicating that armed citizens have stopped more active murderers than police officers. This stands in contrast Stein’s veto comments as well as what gun-control groups routinely parrot, conveniently absent of real data and research.
All of this also comes as Americans have continued to embrace their Second Amendment rights by all available reports. Along with constitutional carry’s spread, Americans have been purchasing firearms in record numbers according to data from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which shows that more than one million background checks have been conducted for the purchase of a firearm for 70 straight months.
