House deals blows to gun-control forces

Government News
Source: Charlotte Observer
Published: Thursday, April 26, 2001 Author: MARK JOHNSON
Posted on 04/28/2001 03:52:17 PDT by Movemout

Tougher storage law killed, suits limited

By MARK JOHNSON
Raleigh Bureau

RALEIGH — Gun rights advocates scored two victories in the General
Assembly on Wednesday, sinking a tougher gun storage bill and passing
legislation that blocks N.C. cities and counties from suing gun
manufacturers.

Gun rights forces won by overwhelming margins on both votes in the House,
making quick work of potentially tedious and volatile proposals in a week
when lawmakers already are handling a cascade of legislation.

Rep. Jennifer Weiss, D-Wake, proposed ratcheting up the state’s safe
storage law, applying it to anyone, not just people with children living in
their home.

“This bill does not require people to keep their guns locked at all times
does not interfere with anyone’s right to own a gun does not interfere with
anyone’s ability to defend themselves with a gun,” Weiss said. “We work to
protect children and we work to hold people responsible for their
behavior.”

North Carolina is one of 18 states that have enacted safe storage laws in
the past dozen years. Under the N.C. law, any gun owner who lives in the
same home with a minor is guilty of a misdemeanor if the firearm is not
secured and a child gains access to it.

Weiss’ legislation would extend the law to all gun owners, something Rep.
Joe Hackney, D-Orange, said “may prevent another Columbine (high school
shooting) right here in North Carolina,” referring to the Colorado tragedy.

Opponents said the bill took a law that is working to protect children in
homes and indiscriminately lumped it onto any gun owner at any location.

The bill, opponents said, is an intrusion onto Second Amendment rights.

“It was a massive expansion of the law,” said Henri McClees, a National
Rifle Association lobbyist.

Rep. Wayne Sexton, R-Rockingham, suggested Weiss and gun-control advocates
were incrementally trying to restrict gun owners’ rights.

“If we keep going, we’re going to have to lock it up in a safe, put it up
in the attic and take the key down to the safe deposit box,” he said.

The bill failed 83 to 33.

By an even wider margin, 101 to 16, lawmakers approved a bill that would
prohibit cities and counties from filing lawsuits against gun makers.

“This bill will ensure that city and county officials, like all other
citizens of North Carolina, must make law by using the legislature not the
courts,” said Sexton, who sponsored the lawsuit bill.

Gun-control advocates, having fallen short in Congress and the state
legislatures, shifted their battle from the political arena to the
courtroom in recent years. They have helped 19 cities or counties sue gun
makers, arguing either that firearms are defective because they don’t
include certain safety features or that the gun companies create a nuisance
by not taking steps to ensure criminals don’t get hold of their products.

Twenty-one states, including South Carolina, have enacted legislation to
block city lawsuits, according to Handgun Control Inc.

Rep. Paul Luebke, D-Durham, chided the bill’s conservative supporters for
constantly championing the freedom of local government from state mandates
and then imposing one.

“What this bill does is a slap in the face of people in North Carolina who
are concerned about handgun violence,” Luebke said.

A cluster of other gun bills on the House calendar did not come up for a
vote, including two that would make out-of-state concealed weapon permits
valid in North Carolina. Any bills that involve state spending that don’t
pass either the House or Senate by tonight are dead.

North Carolina already issues concealed weapon permits to residents who
clear a criminal background check and certain training requirements, as do
a number of other states. The proposed legislation would make permits from
other states valid in North Carolina.

At least 19 states already recognize some out-of-state permits. An S.C.
permit, for example, is honored in eight other states, from Tennessee to
Wyoming, according to data compiled by Handgun Control Inc. and the
National Rifle Association. South Carolina accepts permits from at least
four other states.

North Carolina does not honor out-of-state permits but its permits are
recognized in Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Utah.

It was unclear whether the House would take up any of the other gun bills
today.