Republican State Lawmakers Blocking Vote on Gun Rights Legislation

RALEIGH – They may talk a good game on the campaign trail, assuming the ‘conservative’ label and claiming to fight on behalf of associated principles such as inalienable gun rights, but their tune sounds a little different when in the halls of the General Assembly. It’s a tale many are familiar with, but we must never neglect a duty to shine spotlights on Republican politicians that knowingly knee-cap the very same policies whose underlying principles they exploit to court voters come election time.

It’s happening now with gun rights legislation.

“It’s a sad day in Raleigh when politicians who claim to be pro-gun act as though they are anything but. It’s an even sadder day when an honest citizen, petitioning her Representatives, is driven to tears after telling the Senator that she would relay his position on HB-746 (Permitless Concealed Carry and more) to other gun rights voters. Yet, that is exactly what happened today in Raleigh. Senator “Bully Bill”Rabon, bullied a pro-gun activist when she acknowledged Rabon’s stance on HB-746, and said that she would relay his position to other pro-gun voters. 

“Bully Bill’s” Anti-Gun Stance
What was “Bully Bill” Rabon’s stance on HB-746? His stance was precisely the same stance one would expect from any random anti-gun Democrat—basically, there will be no bills moving through the senate that are not pre-scheduled, including HB-746. Translated from politi-speak, Rabon essentially said: No pro-gun bills now, and because we don’t have supermajorities after December, there will be no pro-gun bills for years to come. Sorry gun owners, but thanks for sending me back to the Senate. 

Please understand that Bully Bill is the chairman of the powerful Senate Rules Committee, and so he is the senator responsible for stalling HB-746 ever since it made it to the senate at the beginning of this legislative session (that’s a looong time ago, folks). Up until now, NC gun owners have had their rights withheld by Senator Rabon, and it would seem that he aims to use his power to keep it that way.”

The legislation was crafted by some of the state legislature’s leading champions for liberty, some of which have since been pushed out by the powers that be, or were thrown under the bus at election time.

House Bill 746 protects your gun rights as they were originally intended for citizens of the State, among other changes. It would recognize and protect a citizen’s individual right to carry handguns, open or concealed, without a restrictive concealed carry permit, in certain places. It thoroughly defines limitations and exceptions to ‘when and where’, consistent with current laws, but it removes the State’s power to prohibit the average citizen from carrying a concealed weapon, provided other laws are followed. After all, why should the state government be able to make you jump through hoops to carry a gun concealed when that is precisely your right as an individual?

Former conservative state lawmaker Beverly Boswell, an original co-sponsor of the bill, warns that the window is closing to protect your rights.

“We have to get this bill passed NOW.” she says, adding, “It’s our last chance for years. We worked so hard on this bill.”

And now fellow Republicans are blocking votes on it in the last remaining days before a veto-proof Republican majority exists in the General Assembly.

Sen. Bill Rabon should bring this bill up for a vote and let it stand on its own merit. Otherwise, it confirms the worst kind of behavior by established leadership officials to squash conservative legislation in favor of the status quo – a creeping deterioration of many of our enumerated (and non-enumerated) rights.

You can let him, and other lawmakers, know as much with the contact information here. Tell them to allow a vote on House Bill 746.