Wake County Sheriff suspends processing for pistol purchase permits

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From GRNC

On March 24, Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker announced he is suspending the processing of North Carolina pistol purchase permits, citing the increase in permit applications due to the coronavirus pandemic. Baker’s press release falsely claimed “This decision does not limit anyone’s right to purchase a handgun.” In truth:

* It is illegal to purchase a handgun in North Carolina without first obtaining a permit, meaning the action most certainly does limit people’s ability to purchase a handgun;

* Nothing in North Carolina’s Emergency Management Act gives the sheriff the power to delay or cease the issuing of permits; and

* By law, pistol purchase permits must be issued or denied within 14 days, and may be denied only for statutorily permissible reasons.
 
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Here’s the WCSO statement ...

WCSO Sheriff Suspends Purchase of Pistol Permits

Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker announced today the temporary suspension of pistol purchase permits through April 30. The announcement does not affect residents who possess concealed carry renewal permits.

“This decision does not limit anyone’s right to purchase a handgun,” said Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker. “Over the past several weeks, our staff has been inundated with high volumes of permit applications that has made it impossible to process by law. This decision is not a violation of anyone’s Second Amendment Rights. Most importantly, this action will limit persons encountering one another during this time of State of Emergency, consistent with Governor Roy Cooper’s Executive Orders and that of Wake County Commissioner Greg Ford.”

Additionally, it should be noted that North Carolina General Statutes 14-403 and 404 only requires the Sheriff issues a permit to purchase a firearm but sets no timeframe for when applications must be taken by the Sheriff’s Office.

Once the applications are received, the Sheriff has 14 days to inform an applicant whether the permit will be granted or denied. There are currently 755 applications pending. Part of the process requires that a background check be made of the applicant. This is conducted by the Wake County Clerk of Courts. They currently do not have enough staff to keep up with the volume of applicants received by the WCSO, to statutorily meet the 14-day requirement.

“With 290 people coming into the permits office per day, the Sheriff’s Office would not be able to meet the 14-day requirement,” added Sheriff Baker.

The suspension will allow staff and the Wake County Clerk of Courts to process the backlog of pending applications.
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So it’s not “his” fault ... it’s the Clerk of Courts ... he never does anything wrong :rolleyes:

Strange thing back when Donnie was in office we had a couple gun buying runs and he never stopped taking applications.
 
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NCFubar said:
Here’s the WCSO statement ...



So it’s not “his” fault ... it’s the Clerk of Courts ... he never does anything wrong :rolleyes:

Strange thing back when Donnie was in office we had a couple gun buying runs and he never stopped taking applications.
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I could be wrong but, what exactly does the clerk of court do in this process?
 
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Grits said:
This makes the case for doing away with pistol purchase permits. It needs to be done away with.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk
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Majority red in House and Senate. Being half facetious/rhetorical here, tell me why it hasn't happened?

Also, fully non-rhetorically speaking ... I can't think of anyone who looks worse with facial hair than Phil Berger.
 
Cowboy said:
Only for those cases that are appealed correct? I'm unaware of the clerk of court having any role in the process except for appeals of denied permits.
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For currently active cases or order requests ... stuff not in the system yet.

from NCGS 14-404 ...
§ 14-404. Issuance or refusal of permit; appeal from refusal; grounds for refusal; sheriff's fee.

(a) Upon application, and such application must be provided by the sheriff electronically, the sheriff shall issue the permit to a resident of that county, unless the purpose of the permit is for collecting, in which case a sheriff can issue a permit to a nonresident, when the sheriff has done all of the following:

(1) Verified, before the issuance of a permit, by a criminal history background investigation that it is not a violation of State or federal law for the applicant to purchase, transfer, receive, or possess a handgun. The sheriff shall determine the criminal and background history of any applicant by accessing computerized criminal history records as maintained by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, by conducting a national criminal history records check, by conducting a check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), and by conducting a criminal history check through the Administrative Office of the Courts.

(2) Fully satisfied himself or herself by affidavits, oral evidence, or otherwise, as to the good moral character of the applicant. For purposes of determining an applicant's good moral character to receive a permit, the sheriff shall only consider an applicant's conduct and criminal history for the five-year period immediately preceding the date of the application.

(3) Fully satisfied himself or herself that the applicant desires the possession of the weapon mentioned for (i) the protection of the home, business, person, family or property, (ii) target shooting, (iii) collecting, or (iv) hunting.
 
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§ 14-404. Issuance or refusal of permit; appeal from refusal; grounds for refusal; sheriff's fee.

(a) Upon application, and such application must be provided by the sheriff electronically,

I wonder if this is the language that will sink the high sheriff? "Must be provided..." There might not be anything in the statutes that specifies when the sheriff must take applications, but I would bet it is inferred that he MUST take applications. If the applications must be provided electronically and folks are working from home, it looks like a slam dunk for stopping this order to me.
 
NCFubar said:
For currently active cases or order requests ... stuff not in the system yet.

from NCGS 14-404 ...
§ 14-404. Issuance or refusal of permit; appeal from refusal; grounds for refusal; sheriff's fee.

(a) Upon application, and such application must be provided by the sheriff electronically, the sheriff shall issue the permit to a resident of that county, unless the purpose of the permit is for collecting, in which case a sheriff can issue a permit to a nonresident, when the sheriff has done all of the following:

(1) Verified, before the issuance of a permit, by a criminal history background investigation that it is not a violation of State or federal law for the applicant to purchase, transfer, receive, or possess a handgun. The sheriff shall determine the criminal and background history of any applicant by accessing computerized criminal history records as maintained by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, by conducting a national criminal history records check, by conducting a check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), and by conducting a criminal history check through the Administrative Office of the Courts.

(2) Fully satisfied himself or herself by affidavits, oral evidence, or otherwise, as to the good moral character of the applicant. For purposes of determining an applicant's good moral character to receive a permit, the sheriff shall only consider an applicant's conduct and criminal history for the five-year period immediately preceding the date of the application.

(3) Fully satisfied himself or herself that the applicant desires the possession of the weapon mentioned for (i) the protection of the home, business, person, family or property, (ii) target shooting, (iii) collecting, or (iv) hunting.
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The colored part would make an uninformed person think that the clerk of court handled that Part of background checks. But the truth is it says the sheriffs department has access to the AOC data base to check backgrounds. The Clerks office only handles the appeals of the denials.
 
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how can they process a PPP in 14 days but i'm 60 days into a CHP renewal and only hearing crickets...the upside is I am on my 10th day of not being able to legally purchase a handgun...
 
I don’t see the problem here. I was a recruiter for the Army during my last hitch. I would drive to the all the places that had to check the box for a back ground check, nothing electronic. 1.5 hours easy peasey and that’s driving and paperwork. I would do multiple individuals at a time, other recruiters paperwork as well. It takes a few minutes per person at each stop, not a big deal for sure. With all the electronic forms being accepted now this should only take a few minutes for the entire process.
 
dmarbell said:
§ 14-404. Issuance or refusal of permit; appeal from refusal; grounds for refusal; sheriff's fee.

(a) Upon application, and such application must be provided by the sheriff electronically,

I wonder if this is the language that will sink the high sheriff? "Must be provided..." There might not be anything in the statutes that specifies when the sheriff must take applications, but I would bet it is inferred that he MUST take applications. If the applications must be provided electronically and folks are working from home, it looks like a slam dunk for stopping this order to me.
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simple
won't have to must provide if they stop accepting applications.
jackboots
 
For eight years, from 2011 - 2019, the Republicans in the Legislature had enough votes to repeal the PPP and override a veto from the Governor. It was introduced into several bills but was always taken out before final passage. Legislative leadership wouldn't buck the NC Sheriff's Association who adamantly opposed repeal. Now that we have Sheriffs that are violating the law, and giving the Legislature a good enough reason to repeal it, we have a gun grabbing Governor that will veto it and we've lost the veto proof majority to override. Nice going, Rep. Moore and Sen. Berger.
 
I did do the NRA-ILA thing last night and complained that I had permits in progress- where's my $$? And I got this a few minutes ago

Your application for a Pistol Purchase permit cannot be approved without additional information for the reasons below:

You are being refunded at this time for your Pistol Permit application. You may reapply after April 30th.​
 
MostWanted said:
For eight years, from 2011 - 2019, the Republicans in the Legislature had enough votes to repeal the PPP and override a veto from the Governor. It was introduced into several bills but was always taken out before final passage. Legislative leadership wouldn't buck the NC Sheriff's Association who adamantly opposed repeal. Now that we have Sheriffs that are violating the law, and giving the Legislature a good enough reason to repeal it, we have a gun grabbing Governor that will veto it and we've lost the veto proof majority to override. Nice going, Rep. Moore and Sen. Berger.
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MostWanted said:
For eight years, from 2011 - 2019, the Republicans in the Legislature had enough votes to repeal the PPP and override a veto from the Governor. It was introduced into several bills but was always taken out before final passage. Legislative leadership wouldn't buck the NC Sheriff's Association who adamantly opposed repeal. Now that we have Sheriffs that are violating the law, and giving the Legislature a good enough reason to repeal it, we have a gun grabbing Governor that will veto it and we've lost the veto proof majority to override. Nice going, Rep. Moore and Sen. Berger.
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Don't forget Thom Tillis.
 
BlackGun said:
I like the letter but his only boss is the voters. He can't be fired or recalled. unless he is running for office this year all will be forgotten.
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Sorry to sound racist but he was elected because he’s black and Harrison was white and the BLM/police brutality/etc thing ... he was elected because he ran on the “I will not cooperate with ICE” ... and he will likely be re-elected by the same people because those demographics do not care about his actions with this issue or the Wake Co Firearms Education & Training Center fiasco ... nor are they really upset with his crazy administrative spending or contractual agreements ... they just care he’s a progressive black liberal who will not enforce laws they feel are antiquated or oppressive. Wake is gone the route of Durham on this type stuff.
 
BlackGun said:
I like the letter but his only boss is the voters. He can't be fired or recalled. unless he is running for office this year all will be forgotten.
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Au contraire. Article 2, section 128-16 of the general provisions in the NC statutes provides for judicial removal from office for a variety of reasons including misadministration and others.

If those two state senators petitioned for it, things could get right sporty for the new sheriff. (But probably little chance of that.)
 
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This is an absolute outrage, don’t generally get too steamed up with silly politics but April 30th???? I say again, outrage, this can’t stand. Certainly more can be done NOW aside from signing petitions
 
MostWanted said:
For eight years, from 2011 - 2019, the Republicans in the Legislature had enough votes to repeal the PPP and override a veto from the Governor. It was introduced into several bills but was always taken out before final passage. Legislative leadership wouldn't buck the NC Sheriff's Association who adamantly opposed repeal. Now that we have Sheriffs that are violating the law, and giving the Legislature a good enough reason to repeal it, we have a gun grabbing Governor that will veto it and we've lost the veto proof majority to override. Nice going, Rep. Moore and Sen. Berger.
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Yep.

Best they ever actually did was got crossbows removed from the requirement.

My "Republican" state rep doesn't give a crap about this either.
 
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