
RALEIGH — A North Carolina Senate bill that would allow for permitless concealed carry of a firearm has been sent to Gov. Josh Stein.
Senate Bill 50 would allow permitless concealed carry for U.S. citizens 18 years and older but prohibit concealed carry in certain locations such as legislative buildings, areas prohibited by federal law, law enforcement facilities and private premises with posted notices.
Additionally, the measure keeps concealed handgun permit reciprocity with other states and requires a concealed carry holder to provide ID to law enforcement when asked.
The bill was quickly approved by the House Rules Committee on June 10 and was passed by that chamber the following day by a tight vote of 59-48.
“This is a great day for law-abiding gun owners across North Carolina,” said Rep. Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort) in a statement. “I’m proud the House stood up today to affirm the fundamental right to keep and bear arms. Senate Bill 50 restores freedom and trust to responsible citizens while ensuring that criminals face stronger penalties for breaking the law.”
All House Democrats voted no on the bill and were joined by two Republicans: Reps. Bill Brisson (Bladen) and Ted Davis (New Hanover). Brisson was a Democrat up until late October 2017, when he announced he was switching parties.
“I’ve always been a conservative Democrat,” Brisson said in an Oct. 27, 2017, statement. “All of my district is rural, and a lot of my constituents are. I’ve been getting a lot of pressure from my constituents in the past few years to change”
Brisson also said, “I don’t have a lot in common with the Democratic Party right now because they have become so liberal.”
Stein has signaled he will veto the measure.
“My standard reviewing any piece of legislation is, will this make us safer?” Stein told reporters the same day the committee approved the bill.
“I don’t know what the version of the bill is today. I was going to see what they ultimately do with this bill,” said Stein. “If it doesn’t make us safer — and the previous version certainly did not – I cannot support it.”
The bill had passed the Senate in March 26-18, with no Democrat support.
The Senate has a veto-proof majority, but the House is one vote shy and would require at least one Democrat to override a veto.
Narrow passage by Judiciary 2
The Judiciary 2 Committee approved the bill by a narrow 6-5 vote after some heated debate. Democrat members of Judiciary 2 pulled in an ex-officio member of the committee, Minority Leader Rep. Robert Reives (D-Chatham), likely in an effort to raise their “no” vote tally.
Sen. Danny Britt (R-Robeson), the bill’s main sponsor, said his legislation would make North Carolina the 30th state to enact Constitutional carry for those 18 years and older.
“The way other states have done this is nine states have allowed constitutional carry at age 18. North Carolina would be the 10th if this bill became law,” said Britt. “Two states allow constitutional carry at 19, and 18 states allow constitutional carry at 21.”
Britt also outlined the enhanced criminal penalties in the bill for possession of a firearm by a felon and crimes committed with an illegally obtained firearm.
Democrats strongly objected to the bill, particularly Butler, who claimed “permitless concealed carry does result in an increase in firearm violence.”
“These are statistics. It’s not hyperbole. It’s not conjecture. We know it,” said Butler. “States with weaker concealed carry permitting laws have a 10.8% higher firearms … homicide rate.”
Butler’s 10.8% statistics appear to come from the activist group MomsRising, which is actively opposing the bill. A local chapter member of MomsRising spoke out against the measure during the public comments portion of the committee’s meeting.
“I don’t understand why in the world we would do this,” said Butler, who then mentioned a recent case of a shooting in Catawba County that injured 11 people. “For the life of me, I don’t understand it, and I certainly cannot support the bill.”
Grassroots NC (GRNC), the state’s largest firearms advocacy group, issued a statement thanking House lawmakers for passing the bill.
“We thank Republican leadership and the members of the NC General Assembly who sponsored and voted for Senate Bill 50, as well as its sister bill, House Bill 50,” the organization said. “We realize that some members may have chosen not to be in attendance for the vote, and we will be channeling voter input to those legislators. Any Republican who opposes the wishes of the voters who elected him will pay a price in 2026. We have every confidence we can muster the votes needed to over-ride Governor Josh Stein’s inevitable veto.”
Prior to House passage, North State Journal asked GRNC President Paul Valone about Butler’s statistics and statements.
“Typical of gun control proponents, Rep. Deb Butler cites dubious statistics from un-named sources to buttress her claim that permitless carry, as contained in Senate Bill 50 (“Freedom to Carry NC”) would somehow increase violent crime,” Valone said in a statement to North State Journal. “Also typical of gun ban advocates, she exploits a recent shooting in Catawba County which had nothing to do with the issue at hand.”
Valone offered multiple other resources refuting Butler’s statistics, such as a 2022 research paper by K. Alexander Adams of the University of Wyoming School of Law Firearms Research Center and Youngsung Kim of the Colorado State University Department of Political Science.
That paper conducted an analysis of whether crime increased or decreased in states that adopted permitless carry laws in a broad-ranged study comprising the years 1980 to 2018, finding that adoption of permitless carry has no impact on murder rates. The study concluded, “We find no evidence that looser concealed carry laws pose a significant public health or criminological risk.”
Valone said another 2022 study by the Crime Prevention Research Center found a statistically significant drop in murder rates for states that adopted permitless carry, but no significant effect on firearm homicide rates or other categories of violent crime.
Additionally, Adams and David Kopel of the Firearms Research Center later found that although the drop in murder rate was not statistically significant, “The relationship between constitutional-carry laws and homicide is negative, which is the opposite of what gun-control activists have predicted. Constitutional-carry laws were associated with about 6% lower homicide rates.”
Valone also referred to the Ohio Center for Justice Research (CJR), which after Ohio became the 23rd permitless carry state, concluded crime rates dropped.
“In the year following, crime involving guns dropped across Ohio’s eight largest cities as a whole and in six of the eight individually”, CJR reported, further noting, “The rate of gun crime in Parma fell the most – by 22% – followed by Akron and Toledo, each with decreases of 18%…”
“Elsewhere, a study entitled, “Concealed Carry Crime Stats 2025: The Impact of Open Carry on Crime in the U.S.” found that of the 20 states which adopted permitless carry, 12 (60%) experienced declines in overall rates of violent crime,” Valone told North State Journal.