John,

It is dangerous to be a child in North Carolina right now. Just this week, a 6-month-old and her father were among three killed in their Fayetteville home [1]. On Wednesday, near a Durham high school, a 15-year-old was killed and another teen was injured by gunfire [2]; and 4 Elizabeth City teens are being hospitalized after a shooting there [3]. On Sunday, a Greensboro eighth grader was shot and killed [4]. We are in a crisis that demands immediate solutions by our leaders.

Yet, NC lawmakers have chosen this moment to bring two dangerous bills up for a committee hearing on Tuesday, February 14th, and if passed, this could be followed quickly by a full House vote. Tell your lawmaker to vote NO on HB 50, Pistol Purchase Permit Repeal; and HB 49, Protect Religious Meeting Places. HB 50 [5] would do away with the requirement that everyone who buys a handgun must pass a background check, no matter where they buy the handgun - even at a gun show or online. We know based on other states that doing away with the Pistol Purchase Permit (PPP) system will cause more firearm homicide and suicide - like it did in Missouri, where gun homicides and suicides increased in the years after they repealed a similar law [6].

States with laws like our current PPP law have lower gun homicide and gun suicide rates [7-10], fewer mass shootings [11], and fewer guns trafficked within their state that are then used in crimes [12,13]. ALL of these issues are related to our current crisis, and repealing PPP now would result in more gun deaths.

HB 49 would allow concealed carry of firearms in religious places of worship with associated schools on their property [14]. It is unimaginable that lawmakers would want to allow firearms onto any property that includes a school, when NC kids are already so much in danger.

I cannot understand why ANY lawmaker would choose right now to weaken our gun laws. When North Carolina children are dying, why would they not do EVERYTHING they can to keep them safe? Tell your lawmaker to vote NO on HB 50 and HB 49.

In solidarity,
Becky

References:
1. Baez G. 6-month-old baby girl, father among 3 shot, killed inside Fayetteville home.WRAL. 2023 Feb 8.

2. WRAL Staff. Hillside High School student dies, another hospitalized after shooting on American Tobacco Trail in Durham. WRAL. 2023 Feb 9.

3. Jordan D. Four teens shot in Elizabeth City. WITN. 2023 Feb 8.

4. Barnes B, Moore S. 14-year-old shooting death sparks homicide investigation. 2023 Feb 2.

5. NC General Assembly. House Bill 50: Pistol Purchase Permit Repeal. 2023.

6. McCourt A, Crifasi C, Vernick J, Kagawa R, Wintemute G & Webster D. Purchaser licensing, point-of-sale background check laws, and firearm homicide and suicide in 4 US states, 1985–2017. American Journal of Public Health. 2020.

7. Ibid.

8. Rudolph KE, et al. Association Between Connecticut’s Permit-to-Purchase Handgun Law and Homicides. American Journal of Public Health. 2015 Aug;105(8):e49-54.

9.  Fleegler EW, et al. Firearm legislation and firearm-related fatalities in the United States. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2013 May 13;173(9):732-40.

10. Crifasi CK, et al. Correction to: Association between Firearm Laws and Homicide in Urban Counties. Journal of Urban Health. 2018 Oct;95(5):773-776.

11. Webster DW, et al. Evidence concerning the regulation of firearms design, sale, and carrying on fatal mass shootings in the United States. Criminology & Public Policy. 2020.

12.   Collins T, et al. State Firearm Laws and Interstate Transfer of Guns in the USA, 2006-2016. Journal of Urban Health. 2018 Jun;95(3):322-336.

13. Webster DW, et al. Relationship between licensing, registration, and other gun sales laws and the source state of crime guns. Injury Prevention. 2001 Sep;7(3):184-9.  

14. NC General Assembly. House Bill 49: Protect Religious Meeting Places. 2023.