As expected, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has officially rejected a permitless carry bill approved by the Republican-controlled legislature. Ijn a statement, Stein claimed SB 50 “makes North Carolinians less safe and undermines responsible gun ownership.”
The bill eliminates training requirements associated with concealed carry permits and reduces the age to carry a concealed weapon from 21 to 18 years old. Authorizing teenagers to carry a concealed weapon with no training whatsoever is dangerous. The bill would also make the job of a law enforcement officer more difficult and less safe. We can and should protect the right to bear arms without recklessly endangering law enforcement officers and our people.”
Stein’s excuses for vetoing permitless carry are nonsensical. An 18-year-old in North Carolina can already openly carry a firearm “with no training whatsoever”, so long as they can legally possess that gun. Why shouldn’t they be able to carry concealed as well?
Stein’s contention that permitless carry would make it harder and more dangerous for police to do their job is equally ridiculous. There are already 29 states that allow for concealed carry without a state-issued license, and not one of them has seen fit to repeal the measure. Nor has permitless carry led to an explosion in violent crime. In fact, as crime analyst Jeff Asher reported today, the United States is on track this year to have the lowest recorded rate of violent crime since at least 1968.
Early crime data for 2025 — when considered in context of the nation’s crime trends in 2023 and 2024 — points to new historic lows being reached this year. The available data from 2024 and the first third of of 2025 suggests a strong possibility that the United States will report the lowest murder rate ever recorded, the lowest property rate ever recorded, and the lowest violent crime rate since 1968.
… What gives me confidence to publish this analysis in June 2025 is that the margins for the conclusion aren’t particularly tight. The US is on track to record a substantially lower violent crime rate than every year since the moon landing. And the nation’s reported property crime rate should be much lower than any property crime rate ever recorded even if you’re conservative in just how much you think it’s falling.
Does that mean that every city is seeing large declines, that there is not room for continued improvement, or that every crime type is at a historic low everywhere? Of course not. But it does provide context for how frequent crime is reported in the United States and hopefully incentivizes a better understanding of why these lows are being reached.
As Asher says, some cities and states are seeing larger declines than others, and there are still a handful of places where violent crime is heading in the wrong direction. Fort Worth, Texas, for instance, has seen murders increase by about 17% through May 31st. Just down the road, however, Dallas has seen the number of homicides drop by 33% (through June 2).
Asher’s Real Time Crime Index shows that homicides have fallen by 28% in Charlotte and 16.7% in Greensboro, North Carolina compared to this time last year, which is good news. But there’s simply no reason to believe that permitless carry would cause those numbers to increase. Louisiana’s permitless carry law took effect in New Orleans last August, for example, and so far this year murders are down 25% compared to last year.
Stein’s arguments against permitless carry don’t add up, but unfortunately the math for overriding his veto is pretty vexing as well. Republicans have a veto-proof majority in the state Senate, but are one vote shy in the House. To make things even more difficult, two Republican House members voted against SB 50, so in order for the bill to get a veto-proof majority there are either going to need to be some absences, abstentions, or a couple of minds changed. Grassroots NC is encouraging gun owners to contact Reps. Ted Davis and Bill Brisson and encourage them to get behind permitless carry.
Hopefully there’ll be an opportunity to get permitless carry on the books before this year’s session adjourns on July 31st.Grassroots NC head Paul Valone also told Bearing Arms last week that Republican leadership can bring up SB 50 for an override attempt at any time, and says they’ll be keeping track of who is and isn’t in the chamber. Fingers crossed that at some point over the next month that attendance will work in gun owners’ favor, and North Carolina will become the 30th state in the nation to recognize that the right to keep and bear arms shouldn’t be subjected to a state-issued permission slip.
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