Advocates want NC to act on guns, but Democrats say GOP has ‘hidden away’ their ideas

Democrats in the state legislature made an emotional appeal for stricter gun laws at a news conference on Thursday.

“We are here to honor parents’ rights to have their child come home from school alive, teachers’ rights to come home from their job alive and students’ rights, not to have to go to school with the fear that they might not come back,” Rep. Caleb Rudow of Buncombe County told reporters.

The push for legislation in North Carolina comes after the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, which killed 19 children and two teachers.

Rudow was joined by two Durham Democrats, Rep. Marcia Morey and Sen. Natalie Murdock. The lawmakers urged Republicans to work with them to pass meaningful gun legislation before the legislature ends what is expected to be a very short session.

Democrats have introduced more than 10 gun bills in the state House since 2016, none of which have made it to the House floor.

“We should be debating this in committee; we should be debating this on the House floor to find solutions that work for both sides,” Rudow said. “But instead, we are given a moment of silence on the House floor to honor victims, our bills are hidden away and we have no discussion about how to stop gun violence in our state government.”

In the U.S. Senate, North Carolina’s Republican Sen. Thom Tillis is working to broker a bipartisan gun control agreement. The News & Observer reported that Tillis is pushing for incentives for state red flag laws, stricter licensing for gun dealers, increased mental health access and preventing juvenile offenders from buying guns.

Republicans unlikely to support legislation

So-called “red flag laws” create a process by which firearms can be temporarily confiscated from a person if they are deemed to pose a danger to themselves or others. Morey introduced her own red flag law in the General Assembly last year and the session before, but it has never made it to a vote.

Morey’s bill, House Bill 525, would allow people to petition a court for an “Extreme Risk Protection Order” that, if granted by a judge, would require the gun owner in question to surrender their firearms. If the gun owner refuses, law enforcement is authorized to seize the firearms to carry out the order.

Senate leader Phil Berger, a Republican, told reporters on Wednesday evening that he was generally not in favor of red flag laws because of their potential to prohibit law-abiding citizens from owning guns.

“There are some concerns amongst a lot of citizens about red flag laws,” he said. “Like a lot of things, the devil’s in the details, so it really does depend on exactly what it is they propose.”

Republican House Speaker Tim Moore was also not interested in a potential red flag law.

“A lot of the legislation that’s being pushed by those on the political left is really just gun control and it would simply take guns away from law-abiding citizens,” Moore told reporters on Thursday. “The thing that you want to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good person with a gun.”

Last year, Republicans in the legislature passed a bill to remove the permit requirement to purchase a handgun. The bill was later vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

Murdock suggested that some Republican leaders in the Senate may be open to laws regarding safe storage of guns which would incentivize safety practices by creating sales tax exemptions for gun safes and provide funding for educational videos on gun safety.

Murdock has also introduced a bill to ban the sale of firearms within about 1,300 feet of a school.

“We’re not trying to stop gun sales,” said a press release from Murdock. “We’re trying to keep our students safe. We don’t need students to drive by a dozen gun stores on their way to get an education.”

Parents and students speak out

At the press conference, legislators invited students, teachers and activists to share their fears and outrage over gun violence.

Leah Krevat, a former student at Apex High School, spoke about her brother, who survived the 2019 shooting at UNC Charlotte.

“My brother was running the tutor center and he was on lockdown for four hours,” she said. “He had to go from tutor to protective authority figure at 21 years old. He was trying to keep everyone else calm and we only got one text from him because he was trying to focus on making sure everyone stayed safe.”

Krevat was joined by her mother, Madhavi, who said they both got involved with activism on guns following the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

“That day she begged me in tears to do something, to find some group or something to help stop the slaughter of kids her age,” Madhavi Krevat said.

After that, the two joined Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action — offshoots of Everytown for Gun Safety, a national activist group.

Sandra Herrera, a Raleigh parent, speaking in Spanish, spoke about her 10-year-old son’s reaction to the shootings.

“My son told me, ‘Mama, I want to do home school,’” she said. “I didn’t have the words to respond.”

According to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks shootings in the U.S., the country has already had 252 mass shootings since the year began.

For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at https://campsite.bio/underthedome or wherever you get your podcasts.

This story was originally published June 9, 2022 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Advocates want NC to act on guns, but Democrats say GOP has ‘hidden away’ their ideas."