RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Education & Training Standards Commission nixed proposed rules for concealed carry instructors after facing significant pushback from over 2,600 instructors across the state.
At a secondary sub-meeting of the Commission held in Garner on Nov. 15, Chair Leslie Cooley-Desmukes told those in attendance that the proposed changes discussed in August that would have required a pre-course delivery report, a post-delivery report, and a student roster, were no longer on the table. That meeting, held at the Garner Performing Arts Center, followed the Commission’s main meeting held at 10 a.m. at Wake Technical Community College Public Safety Training Center in Raleigh.
“I do believe that in taking the comments from this group and others at the last meeting and really trying to consider those and work on some of the issues raised by the group, I think that we have revised the rule to a place where it will address the large number of concerns that we heard in the last meeting,” Cooley-Desmukes told attendees.
She added the Commission tried to consider the feedback received to “make sure that we are not creating a burden on instructors that is more than what we need to create in order to ensure that the rules are followed.”
Unlike the August meeting where hundreds of citizens packed the Raleigh training center location meeting room, the meeting in Garner only had around 50 people in attendance, likely due to the lack of public notice and miscommunication about the secondary meeting.
The secondary meeting was not publicly posted on the Commission’s meeting website. A separate notice was apparently sent by email on Nov. 10 from Commission Director Jeffrey Smythe to concealed carry instructors and Commission members about the second meeting.
In the letter, Smythe described the secondary meeting as a “public hearing” instead of a “public meeting,” and explained that public hearings are published under the calendar on the N.C. Secretary of State’s website. While the Garner location meeting was posted on that calendar, there is no way of determining when it was added.
A source with the newly formed North Carolina Concealed Carry Handgun Instructors Association (NCCCIA), told North State Journal that the first time the notice was sent, around 700 instructors were left off the list.
With the three major items that drew concern from instructors now removed from consideration, the meeting then focused on the required training manual known as the “Red Book.”
Attendees questioned why the Red Book was not available online for free for the public to access given that the contents are the required training rules tied to state statutes. It was argued that an online version would be more practical as it would be readily available and updates could be made in real-time as necessary.
Cooley-Desmukes told the audience that the Red Book’s price had been reduced to $6.99, down from $8.59. The Red Book is currently produced by inmates in the state’s prison system.
The proceeds of the book sales also drew some fire, with NCCCIA’s President Harvey Morse citing past annual sales of the book coming in around the $375,000 range. Morse questioned where that money was being spent and suggested that the legislature could be approached for a small recurring appropriation to alleviate any funding gap should the book be made available online.
Grass Roots North Carolina’s Andy Stevens echoed Morse’s sentiments on the legislative appropriation for the Red Book and said their organization would be more than happy to work with the Commission on that goal.
Discussion also included whether or not the Red Book was copyrighted and therefore might be an issue for instructors who want to make copies of the book to hand out to students.
An attendee asked the Commission how many members had actually read the book and only a few members raised their hands, including Cooley-Desmukes who said she had read portions of it but not “cover to cover.”
At the conclusion of the meeting, Director of Communications for Gun Owners of America (GOA) Jordan Stein told North State Journal he felt the meeting was “overall positive,” but GOA would continue to monitor Second Amendment rights being protected in North Carolina.
Morse also told North State Journal he was pleased with how the meeting went but was concerned at the lack of progress with regard to the Red book.
“I think that we didn’t really accomplish an awful lot because we brought up this copyright question in August and it’s now November,” said Morse. “It should have been resolved. They should have determined whether it was able to be put online or not by this period of time and now we’re back at Ground Zero.”
Morse said the simplest solution was to put the book online for free so that it doesn’t affect the instructors and students financially and that option would allow anybody to access the book whenever they want.
The Commission’s proposed rule changes now go to the state’s Rules Review Commission for final signoff. The next meeting of the Rules Review Commission is scheduled for Dec. 16.
