After success in Virginia, group spending money to push for NC gun laws
A group that spent millions of dollars in Virginia to help flip the legislature is planning to spend money in North Carolina aimed at the General Assembly and gun laws.
All 170 seats in the state House and Senate are up for election this year.
The Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund, the political arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, is spending $250,000 on a digital ad campaign to pressure the General Assembly to pass gun safety legislation like a red flag bill proposed in the 2019 session by Democratic state lawmakers.
Everytown for Gun Safety PACs spent $2.5 million on campaigns in Virginia in 2019. The group is affiliated with Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg. Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which was co-founded by Bloomberg, is also part of Everytown, as is Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and Students Demand Action.
The first ad, called “North Carolina: On Notice,” will run on Facebook and be targeted to suburban women and African African women voters. It notes that 1,300 people die by gun violence each year in the state.
The most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control showed that there were 1,430 firearms deaths in 2017 in North Carolina. In 2016, it was 1,409 deaths, and in 2015, 1,289 deaths.
Gun legislation in NC
Any changes in North Carolina’s gun laws has so far been supported by Democrats and opposed by many Republicans. In January, 50 members of the Republican House Caucus signed a letter supporting counties that declare themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries” and are opposed to any new gun regulations.
Everytown also released poll results from Global Strategy Group that shows majority support for stricter gun laws. The poll of 602 likely voters found that 79% supported red flag laws and 54% supported stronger gun laws. The poll also showed that 64% of respondents agreed it is “possible to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and other dangerous people while also protecting the rights of gun owners.”
An N&O fact-check showed that most Americans support stricter gun laws, including an increasing number of Republicans. In North Carolina, a poll by the conservative policy group Civitas Institute showed 58% of likely voters said laws around gun sales were not strict enough.
Everytown and Moms Demand Action criticized state lawmakers who went to Virginia for a gun rights rally in January in their announcement Monday.
“Everytown, Moms Demand Action, and Students Demand Action volunteers are now calling on the legislature to act by passing gun safety measures, including extreme risk legislation,” the groups said in a news release.
Democrats proposed two gun regulation bills in the 2019 session, but they did not make it out of committee in the Republican-led General Assembly. House Bill 454, a “red flag” bill, would allow family members or law enforcement to petition a judge for what is known as an extreme risk protection order, which would restrict a person’s access to firearms if there was evidence of them posing danger to themselves or others.
One of the bill’s primary sponsors is Rep. Marcia Morey, a Durham Democrat and former judge.
“This is not a partisan issue, this is a public health emergency,” Morey said in August as Democrats tried to renew attention to the issue.
However there has not been Republican support of that bill or House Bill 86, which includes several gun regulations.
On its one-day January session, 50 members of the Republican House Caucus signed a letter by Rep. Keith Kidwell supporting “Second Amendment sanctuaries” in North Carolina and Virginia.
The two Republican primary candidates for governor — Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and Rep. Holly Grange — do not want any new gun laws. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper does.
Grange signed the House caucus letter. She told the N&O that she’s concerned about taking away the rights of law-abiding citizens with new gun laws.
“I just have a problem with people not having due process and being able to represent themselves,” Grange said about the red flag bill.
Forest said the state’s existing gun laws are fine and the proposed policy changes aren’t the answer to mass shootings.
Kidwell told the N&O in January that if the Democrat-led Virginia General Assembly is “successful in casting aside the Constitution there, it will embolden others of their same mindset to try it here.”
Claire Kempner, North Carolina chapter volunteer leader of Moms Demand Action, and first got involved after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed.
“Gun safety is a winning issue among Democrats, Republicans and key voting demographics who decide elections,” Kempner said in a phone interview with the N&O on Monday. She said there needs to be more “commonsense” gun laws, starting with the extreme risk protection orders. She said that if state lawmakers don’t “stand up for gun safety now, they’re going to be looking for new jobs in November,” after the election.
The General Assembly convenes for its 2020 short session on April 28. Kempner said that on May 6, Moms Demand Action volunteers will go to the legislature to advocate for gun safety laws.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 12:09 PM with the headline "After success in Virginia, group spending money to push for NC gun laws."
.jpg)