North Carolina Governor’s Gun Ban

-By Warner Todd Huston

It appears that North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue went to the Rahm Emanuel school of governing because hurricane Earl was a “crisis” that was “too good to waste.” Perdue used hurricane Earl as an excuse to claim that the North Carolina was in a “state of emergency” and this proclamation opens the door for an “emergency” gun ban.

On Sept. 1 as Earl was bearing down on the coast, Perdue signed Executive Order 62 in which she claimed that the state was officially in a state of emergency and that EO sets in motion statute 14-288.7 — titled “Transporting dangerous weapon or substance during emergency; possessing off premises; exceptions.” (N.C. definition of “state of emergency” can be seen in 14-288.1 definitions)

Statute 14-288.7 makes criminals of anyone carrying a gun — even N.C. concealed carry permit holders — in a time of emergency as Gov. Perdue declared in her EO. The anti-gun statute says, “Except as otherwise provided in this section, it is unlawful for any person to transport or possess off his own premises any dangerous weapon or substance in any area: In which a declared state of emergency exists; or Within the immediate vicinity of which a riot is occurring.”

In her press release, Perdue said:

The order calls for all state and local government agencies to cooperate in the implementation of provisions of the North Carolina Emergency Operations Plan. The order also delegates authority to Crime Control and Public Safety Secretary Reuben Young to take “actions necessary to promote and secure the safety and protection of the populace in North Carolina.”

Several politicians in North Carolina have been battling to remove this restrictive section of state law but thus far to no success. If you are interested in the specifics of that fight Paul Valone has more details about that fight in his examiner article.

It is interesting to note that just when people might need personal protection most, during a state of emergency, Gov. Perdue and North Carolina’s Democrats make to disarm the populace. Just when people would need to assure their own safety, NC politicians want to make them weak and unable to protect themselves!

Let’s hope that this essentially anti-American statute in North Carolina is changed soon.
____________
“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.


Comments are closed.

Copyright Publius Forum 2001