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View Full Version : As Earl approaches, NC governor suspends gun rights



Little-Acorn
09-02-2010, 06:31 PM
If Hurricane Earl clobbers North Carolina, I wonder if the police there will start going door-to-door, confiscating weapons as the cops did in parts of New Orleans after Katrina hit.

Or will they wait until the next storm, this time?

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http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-charlotte/north-carolina-governor-suspends-gun-rights

North Carolina governor suspends gun rights
September 2nd, 2010 12:09 pm ET.

[Raleigh] Yesterday, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue signed Executive Order No. 62, declaring a State of Emergency in advance of Hurricane Earle. In doing so, Perdue suspended the right of state residents to use or carry firearms outside their premises.

At issue is N.C. General Statute 14-288.7, which prohibits transporting a “dangerous weapon” during a state of emergency:


§ 14 288.7. Transporting dangerous weapon or substance during emergency; possessing off premises; exceptions.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, it is unlawful for any person to transport or possess off his own premises any dangerous weapon or substance in any area:
(1) In which a declared state of emergency exists; or
(2) Within the immediate vicinity of which a riot is occurring.
(b) This section does not apply to persons exempted from the provisions of G.S. 14 269 with respect to any activities lawfully engaged in while carrying out their duties.
(c) Any person who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. (1969, c. 869, s. 1; 1993, c. 539, s. 192; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).)

According to § 14 288.1 (10), a state of emergency exists “whenever, during times of public crisis, disaster, rioting, catastrophe, or similar public emergency, public safety authorities are unable to maintain public order or afford adequate protection for lives or property, or whenever the occurrence of any such condition is imminent.”

Violation of the order is a Class I misdemeanor, punishable by up to 120 days in jail. Those impacted include concealed handgun permit-holders, sport-shooters, and anyone else carrying a firearm outside their home or business. Critics note that dove-hunting season begins on Saturday (September 4), potentially making criminals of thousands of hunters.

NC DEMOCRATS REFUSE TO RECTIFY PROBLEM

In recent years, two North Carolina bills could have prevented infringement on individual rights under state of emergency laws. Under Section 3 of House Bill 257: “No Seizure of Lawful Firearms in Emergency,” sponsored by Rep. George Cleveland (R-Onslow) and three other legislators, lawfully possessed firearms and ammunition would have been exempted from the state of emergency law.

Despite support from the state’s primary gun group, Grass Roots North Carolina*, and others the bill died when it was denied a committee hearing by Democrat leadership, including Speaker Joe Hackney (D-Chatham, Moore, Orange) House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman (D-Davidson) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Representative Ronnie Sutton (D-Robeson).

The issue became more urgent in February, when the town of King declared a state of emergency in response to an impending snowstorm and posted the entire town against the sale and purchase of firearms and ammunition.

In response, GRNC worked with Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba) to revamp the bill and introduce it again, with stronger language on the state of emergency issue, during the second year of the legislature’s two-year session as HB 2031. Referred to the House Judiciary I Committee, chaired by anti-gun Rep. Deborah Ross, that bill too died when Democrats denied it a hearing.

LAWSUIT PENDING ON STATE OF EMERGENCY LAW

Ironically, in June GRNC joined Michael Bateman, Virgil Green, Forrest Minges, Jr., and the Second Amendment Foundation in a lawsuit against the state’s emergency powers gun ban.

Named in the suit are North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue; Reuben Young, secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety; Stokes County and the City of King.

Filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, the official title is Bateman et al v. Perdue et al, Case No. 5:10-cv-265. It contends that state statutes forbidding carrying of firearms and ammunition during declared states of emergency, as well as laws enabling government officials to prohibit purchase, sale and possession of firearms and ammunition are unconstitutional because they forbid the exercise of Second Amendment rights as affirmed by the Supreme Court ruling in McDonald v. Chicago.

Plaintiffs are represented by attorney Alan Gura, who won the recent McDonald v. Chicago Second Amendment case and the landmark D.C. v. Heller case preceding it. Local counsel includes Andrew Tripp and Kearns Davis of Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLC.

After GRNC issued an alert to its members, word of the implications of Perdue's order spread on the Internet, including being featured on thetruthaboutguns.com. It is widely anticipated that the order will add impetus to the Bateman lawsuit.

Little-Acorn
09-02-2010, 07:23 PM
So the NC governor (and legislature, who passed the law) feels it's OK to suspend rights protected by Constitutional amendments, if a large enough storm is coming?

Interesting.

Suppose I have a large cotton plantation in North Carolina. If Earl hits hard enough, I could lose my whole crop.

Given the circumstances, is it OK for me to grab a bunch of black people off the street, put chains on them, and force them at gunpoint to work in my fields harvesting my cotton, for mediocre room and board and no pay? And whip them if they protest, and set dogs after them if they try to escape?

I know, the right to be free from slavery is also protected by a Constitution amendment.

But a storm is coming! Surely you can make a similar exception, governor! You've already done it for one amendment. Why not another?

Palin Rider
09-02-2010, 08:45 PM
Suppose I have a large cotton plantation in North Carolina. If Earl hits hard enough, I could lose my whole crop.

Given the circumstances, is it OK for me to grab a bunch of black people off the street, put chains on them, and force them at gunpoint to work in my fields harvesting my cotton, for mediocre room and board and no pay?

:lol: How are you going to force them at gunpoint when the sheriff has confiscated your guns?!

I love it when know-it-alls trip over their own ideas.

Solar
09-02-2010, 09:38 PM
Why do liberals assume we are as stupid as they are?

So if your neighbor is being attacked, you can't bring out a gun in his defense, or you will be charged with breaking the law during an emergency....

Did they ever consider the fact that the Police will be busy with other issues, being that it is a hurricane.
So don't expect their help, or your neighbors, for that matter.

Does that about sum it up?

actsnoblemartin
09-02-2010, 10:45 PM
this is fucking ridiculous. Lets just let the federal government pick and choose what rights they will allow us to have.

dipshits :poke: