North Carolina has two kinds of gun permits: pistol purchase permits and concealed carry permits. Both types of permits are issued by sheriffs. The statutes concerning both kinds of permits were amended during the 2015 legislative session by S.L. 2015-195. This post summarizes the most important changes. Pistol purchase permits. Release for mental health court orders. The new law at least allows, and perhaps requires, a sheriff to obtain from a permit applicant a standard AOC release for “court orders concerning the mental health or capacity” of the applicant. Note that this release does not grant the sheriff access to the applicant’s medical records; it is limited to court orders. Limits on character affidavits. A sheriff may decline to issue a permit to a person who lacks good moral character. In evaluating an applicant’s moral character, G.S. 14-404(a)(2) states that the sheriff may consider “affidavits, oral evidence,” or other information. Historically, some sheriffs have required that applicants submit affidavits from others concerning the applicants’ character. However, new G.S. 14-404(e1) provides that a sheriff may require only the following from an application: a standard SBI application form; a five dollar application fee; ID; proof of residency; and the AOC release concerning court orders discussed above. Therefore, it seems that sheriffs are no longer permitted to require affidavits, though perhaps an applicant could still submit affidavits voluntarily if he or she thought that doing so would be helpful. Five-year limit for determining good moral character. The new law provides that “[f]or purposes of [...]
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