As of tomorrow, everyone who goes hunting in the entire state of NC is a criminal.

[benEzra]

So is every person in the entire state who goes shooting at a shooting range, every person in the entire state who takes a gun to a gunsmith, every person who buys a .22 at Walmart, and most people licensed to carry a firearm.

Why? Because a hurricane is passing by our state tonight, 80 miles out to sea.



You see, storms trigger a pro forma declaration of an NC state of emergency, as is usual for hurricanes, heavy snow, ice, or drought. And that invokes NC General Statutes section 14-288.7, which bans all guns everywhere except on your own property.

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_14/GS_14-288.7.html

§ 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).)

So, you don't see how a hurricane offshore, or a drought 200 miles away, should make it a crime to go dove hunting in Appalachian meadows (I think Saturday is the first day of dove season), or to go to a shooting range in the foothills on a clear sunny day, or to drive from point A to point B with a firearm in the trunk?

Me either. :eyes:

This law, of course, was the last gasp of the Jim Crow era---passed in the 1960's to ensure that people with the wrong color skin could be disarmed at local authorities' whim, to make sure they didn't get too uppity. It has been preserved by a combination of selective enforcement, widespread ignorance of its true scope, and occasional cheerleading by gun prohibitionists.

But the next time somebody who doesn't know jack about gun law equates "Southern" with "has laws favorable to lawful gun ownership," maybe they should compare 13th-strictest-in-the-nation NC to Minnesota, or Vermont, or Washington, or Pennsylvania.

Anyway, there are a bunch of criminals pro tempore in NC today and tomorrow. We'll probably be lawful again by Monday. Well, maybe Tuesday, since Monday is a holiday...

[virginia mountainman]

1. But Ben...

According to many, "We don't have any significant gun control laws"....


:sarcasm:

[SteveM]

41. I vaguely remember a spate of these laws passed during the 60s. nt

[Endangered Specie]

2. I'd say that NC has some of the worst gun laws in the South...

- pistol purchase permits (another jim crow era law)
- CCW guns banned in restaurants, banks, ANY place that charges admission (aside from the usual school/govt buildings, no exception for when you pass through in your car w/o getting out).
- No hunting on Sunday (wtf)

[benEzra]

5. *The* worst, that I know of.

No hunting on Sunday (wtf)

That's because the Religious Right isn't a friend of gun owners, either. We also have some pretty silly laws about alcohol, too.

I will say that the doing-anything-but-worshipping-on-Sunday-is-offensive-to-God crowd has even more pull in NC's mentor to the north, Massachusetts, than they do here, apparently. I was shocked to find just how severe Massachusetts' no-Sunday-shopping laws were, when my son was in Boston Children's in '03.

[backwoodsbob]

47. N.C. is WAY worse than Va.

If you get the urge to hunt deer up here in the mountains come rifle season..give a hollar.We don't get them BIG but they are ok.

Standard license allows three doe and three buck here and we can buy extra tags

[benEzra]

3. Wow, that was a quick drive-by unrec.

I posted this less than 5 minutes ago. Someone doesn't like us peons getting all uppity about residual Jim Crow statutes, apparently...

[petersjo02]

4. Sounds good to me. n/t

[benEzra]

6. Would you feel the same way about a law that banned all abortions statewide

every time there was a drought in a few counties, or a hurricane out in the Atlantic, or ice on the roads? How about a law banning political protests whenever the legislature is in session?

If (as I surmise) you don't particularly like lawful gun ownership, that's fine, but laws like this one don't exactly help your side of the debate...

[cleanhippie]

30. Care to elaborate as to why? Or was that just a drive by?

[SteveM]

42. We had an old Labrador retriever in the family. You'd like the sound...

of his breaking wind. The smell? Not so much.

[NC_Nurse]

7. Sonyou can't hunt for one day. BFD

[msongs]

8. the animal gun victims will he happy for 24 hrs lol nt

[friendly_iconoclast]

12. A lot of hunters hunt to put food on the table. Some of them will do without, of course...

....but many others will slaughter non-game meat animals (in rural areas)- or do what most do, and 'hunt' the local supermarkets.

I suppose those "animal victims" will be somehow less dead than the ones that would have been killed with guns...

[NC_Nurse]

14. How about veggie meals for a day? Might be good for them...

[Callisto32]

26. Your dietary preferences are not grounds to interfere with the lives of others.

What if I decided vegetarian's lives would be better if they "had a meal of meat"?

[cleanhippie]

31. Might not be......

Your posts seem devoid of thought.

[Callisto32]

24. You mean the food?

[one-eyed fat man]

28. Hmmmm,

So you are morally superior because you hire your killing done? The cow just skinned itself and jumped onto that nice white styrofoam tray and wrapped itself in plastic?

No leather in your wardrobe?

No insulin or birth control pills in your medicine chest?

Live on nothing but tofu?

[Pavulon]

36. Noms?

dove wrapped in bacon stuffed with peppers and marinated red wine for an hour is grreat. They are fun to eat and to shoot.

Dont worry, nc will not be messing with opening day. Short of the second coming things will proceed.

[SteveM]

44. Ah, yes, I have 12 already, and ready to try a new recipe!

[jazzhound]

37. Hi Valley Girl!!! (lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol)

:hi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valspeak

Oh............My............God!!! Another gnarly contribution from msongs..........fer shur!!!!!!

[Euromutt]

38. Thanks to you, I now have Frank (and Moon) Zappa stuck in my head

Barf out! Gag me with a spoon!

[friendly_iconoclast]

9. Would that be some of the "occasional cheerleading" the OP spoke of?

Not down with the idea of "strict scrutiny", are you?

[benEzra]

10. I don't hunt (like most gun owners in this state). But...

would you care to offer a rational justification as to why you think some wind and rain on Cape Hatteras justify making it a crime to hunt game birds or shoot paper targets in Ashe County, or Cherokee? And how you think such arbitrary restrictions would be constitutional?

Not even Massachusetts, NJ, and California have a law like this one. As far as I know, NC is the only state in the nation in which a lack of rainfall, or even (heck) a budget crisis, can justify the revocation of civil liberties. Thankfully, it is being challenged in court, and I don't think its supporters have a constitutional leg to stand on.

As I mentioned upthread, would you feel the same way if the state arbitrarily banned abortion statewide on arbitrarily selected days? Or would that be OK?

[NC_Nurse]

15. Perhaps they don't want people to freak out in an emergency like they did

In parts of LA near NO during Katrina...

You can always reschedule a medical procedure. Happens all the time. I bet some are getting rescheduled in NC right now.

[benEzra]

16. Pray tell, what emergency is currently under way right now in Cherokee county?

Or heck, Lenoir county? Pamlico county? Craven county?

Regarding the New Orleans fiasco---lest one forget, it was the authorities freaking out in New Orleans, not the homeowners...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danziger_Bridge_Shootings

and Mayor Nagin's obsession with using his scarce resources to take guns from homeowners was downright bizarre in light of the humanitarian crisis staring him in the face. Do you really think it helped things to pull first responders away from rescuing the trapped and starving in the 9th Ward so they could hassle lawful gun owners in high-and-dry sections of the city instead?

I volunteer with my local emergency management team. I can tell you with certainty that one of the most important factors in disaster prep is trust between the authorities and the citizenry, and nothing will undercut that trust faster than authorities using the crisis as an excuse to throw their weight around in pointless or counterproductive ways. After the Katrina confiscations and forced evictions, there was a whole lot of discussion going on nationwide about how to keep you and your family safe from first responders in a crisis---how to mark your house as already-searched, for example, or how to make it look like you had already left instead of sheltering in place. Those heavy-handed abridgements of civil liberties did incalculable harm to the relationship between first responders and the public they ostensibly exist to serve.

This cartoon pretty much sums up that perception:

http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/store/add.php?iid=11591

As to NC's law---the only such law in the nation, AFAIK---even the governor and her staff don't understand the law as written, it is so irrational. She seemed genuinely surprised today that hunters questioned whether they would get into trouble for going hunting in violation of the no-guns law, and basically took the position "that's not what I meant by the emergency declaration". She's right, of course---no rational governor would enforce the law as written, and she is rational---but that only underscores just how zany this law is.

[AtheistCrusader]

32. The only people I see evidence of 'freaking out' and shooting people, was the NO Cops.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/02/26/18638835.php

Feel free to disarm THEM in an emergency, if you like.

[SteveM]

45. I saw some freaking out when LEO/military forcibly took a gun from an old lady...

you know, door-to-door stuff. No warrant. No due process.

[Euromutt]

21. Washington has a somewhat similar law...

...in that the governor can prohibit the possession of firearms outside one's house of place of business if she has declared a state of emergency (RCW 43.06.220(1)(e) http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=43.06.220). The difference being that the governor can only declare a state of emergency "after finding that a public disorder, disaster, energy emergency, or riot exists within this state or any part thereof which affects life, health, property, or the public peace" (RCW 43.06.010(12) http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=43.06.010); it takes a little more than a cyclone passing offshore or a budget crisis, and even then, the governor has to actively declare the state of emergency.

[PavePusher]

29. And since the reason for it is spurious at best...

it makes a mockery of the legal system.

Or can't you see that?

[SteveM]

43. Uh, presumably, most people still have only wk-ends off. That's 50%.

[Greg K]

11. Silly law, but is it even being enforced? nt

[benEzra]

18. Nope. Most first responders don't even know about it...

and the governor has categorically declared that she is OK with people transporting guns for lawful purposes, even though such transport is banned right now by the law. I was a criminal myself, this evening...took my daughter to Morehead with a firearm in the vehicle.

There is no way that this law would be declared constitutional in this century, even in NC, although the twenty-percenters are still defending it. But if it were actually enforced, the backlash would result in a quick repeal, and a lot of civil rights lawsuits.

[Mira]

13. Fascinating post. I'm gunless in North Carolina, hoping the storm will not be too bad. Recommended.

[benEzra]

20. Thanks! Not bad at all here so far. Just warm breezes and light, warm rain.

Not even hard enough yet to bring any limbs down. My pecan tree has just started dropping pecans, so I'm hoping the storm is gentle to it.

[SteveM]

46. A hurricane just now formed off Texas/Mexico; headin' our way now! nt

[slackmaster]

23. My brother and his family live in Virginia. Best of luck to all of you.

:hi:

[Control-Z]

17. It strikes me as odd

that anyone would be jonesing over a day without shooting.

[benEzra]

19. I'm not following you here...

given that "to jones" is slang for "to crave" or "to desire", are you saying it's odd that someone would crave a day with no lawful shooting?

It's not like the law actually has any effect---95% of lawful gun owners (and first responders) don't know about the law, the 5% of gun owners who know about it know it's an archaic Jim Crow rule that's not enforced, and the 5% of first responders who know about it won't enforce it. From the beginning, it was only intended to be selectively enforced---it was aimed at people with more melanin in their skin than legislators liked---and since NC has become somewhat more colorblind in its policies, what enforcement ever existed has pretty much gone away.

[Callisto32]

27. Maybe we should decide that blacks lose their rights on days when it rains hard?

Does it make sense now?

[AtheistCrusader]

33. How about we rescind free speech in a similar manner.

Still sound acceptable to you?

[PavePusher]

34. It strikes me as odd....

that the state would obstruct the means of the Citizen to defend themselves, their property and their communities, at a time when the public services for that purpose are at their least able to do so.

I wonder why that is?

[SteveM]

48. It's not about banning "Old Crow" bourbon on Sunday. It's Jim Crow. nt

[Glassunion]

22. Ha Ha! Your state fuckin stinks...

Oh... Wait... My state has a similar law... Nevermind, forget I said anything. Be safe...

[one-eyed fat man]

25. Sure is gonna screw with opening day of dove season!

I wonder how much "revenue enhancement" game wardens and cops will be able to accomplish for those guys who don't live in dove field? Yes, Saturday is opening day!

[Pavulon]

35. I bumped into a deputy at the range..

he did not mention this rule, or if he knew he did not seem to be enforcing it..

I HIGHLY doubt they will mess with opening day.

[oneshooter]

39. Has the "State of Emergency" been raised? n/t

[benEzra]

40. Not officially, but subjectively it's probably no longer in force.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 62

PROCLAMATION OF A STATE OF EMERGENCY
BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
DUE TO HURRICANE EARL

Pursuant to the authority vested in me as Governor by the Constitution and the laws of the State of North Carolina:

Section 1.

I declare that a state of emergency exists in the State due to the approach of Hurricane Earl.

...

Section 7.

This Executive Order is effective immediately and shall remain in effect for thirty (30) days or the duration of the emergency, whichever is less.

Since Hurricane Earl is no longer in the area, one would assume that the "duration of the emergency" is no longer in force. However, since the only actual emergency in NC (except for the Atlantic coast) was the state of emergency itself, and the state-of-emergency declaration has not been lifted, who knows.

However, the governor HAS made it clear that she did not intend to curtail off-premises carry of firearms in any way whatsoever, a pretty clear signal that she does not intend to enforce the unspeakably asinine statute banning guns during declared emergencies. (She is pro-gun and IIRC was NRA endorsed.)

I carried like I normally do, and I'm sure that everyone else did as well. This statute really needs to be repealed.