As the North Carolina General Assembly’s 2025 legislative session gets underway, top Republicans in the state are backing bills that would authorize gun owners to carry concealed handguns without obtaining a permit.
Senate Republicans filed a measure Tuesday titled “Freedom to Carry NC” with the support of Senate leader Phil Berger. Senate Bill 50 would allow permitless concealed carry for individuals who are U.S. citizens, at least 18 years of age, and not otherwise prohibited by law, according to the bill’s text.
North Carolina law currently requires gun owners to obtain permits from their local sheriff’s office in order to carry a concealed handgun.
“The General Assembly has made incredible strides to defend the Second Amendment rights of North Carolinians,” bill sponsors Sens. Danny Earl Britt, Warren Daniel, and Eddie Settle said in a joint statement. “There is still more we can do though. We need to join the majority of states and recognize that law-abiding citizens should be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights without getting permission from the government.”
If the bill is enacted, North Carolina would become the 30th state to allow what proponents call “constitutional carry” — meaning concealed carry without a permit. The legislation would still allow concealed carry permits to be issued “for the purpose of reciprocity when traveling in another state.”
“The most dangerous part of these bills is that our concealed carry weapons permitting system would still exist, but it would not be mandatory to obtain a permit before carrying concealed in the state,” North Carolinians Against Gun Violence executive director Becky Ceartas said.
On the House side, Republicans introduced a bill last week named the “NC Constitutional Carry Act.” House Bill 5, sponsored by Reps. Keith Kidwell, Jay Adams, Ben Moss, and Brian Echevarria pushes similar measures through the lower chamber.
The House bill would authorize elected officials in the state to carry a concealed firearm “while performing their official duties if the official has a concealed handgun permit.”
Certain state properties are barred from this list: the State Capitol Building, the Executive Mansion, the governor’s western residence, and certain judicial buildings. However, the State Legislative Building and Legislative Office Building, where the state legislators conduct their business, would not be excluded.
“Imagine going to the General Assembly as a citizen, trying to talk to lawmakers about important issues,” Ceartas said. “People would be intimidated by seeing their lawmaker carrying a handgun while they’re in their office.”
Related legislation has appeared at the legislature in previous years.
Kidwell filed a permitless carry bill in 2023, which moved through two committees before ultimately stalling.
Now the measure returns with support from Berger. In the upper chamber, Britt and Daniel chair the Senate Judiciary Committee, where they will likely be well-positioned to shepherd the legislation through the panel to the Senate floor.
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