imported post
Dreamer:
In terms of your sheriff database, I wouldn't bother to include references for CHPs: They won't be requiring them for much longer, because they can't. That's why Cabarrus immediately ran scared. As you note (and more on this below), the have considerable discretion in issuing purchase permits, so you might ask about char references, notarized affadavits, restrictions on number issued. On CHPs, do they require appointments to apply and how far ahead do those appointments need to be scheduled.
On purchase permits, you are mostly right: It is indeed a Jim Crow law designed to deny firearms to blacks, but dates to 1919, presumably passed in reaction to race riots in St. Louis the previous year. As you note, sheriffs can decline purchase permits for about any reason they like, all couched under deciding you are not of "good moral character." Not only is it archaic, but it is redundant, having been supplanted by NICS.
The problem here is the NC Sheriffs Association. Not only is their lobbyist, Eddie Caldwell, a weasel, they want the power of deciding who gets permits, which they justify on the basis that they have local knowledge. (As in, "I know Jimmy-John fights with his wife. He don't need no gun.") We had a bill in the hopper, introduced by Mark Hilton, but as with most of our bills it got no hearing and died. When it becomes possible, what needs to be done with G.S. 14-402 through 405is for it to be repealed.
[size=§ 14‑404. Issuance or refusal of permit; appeal from refusal; grounds for refusal; sheriff's fee.][/size]
[size=(a) Upon application, the sheriff shall issue the license or permit to a resident of that county, unless the purpose of the permit is for collecting, in which case a sheriff can issue a permit to a nonresident, when the sheriff has done all of the following:][/size]
[size=(1) Verified, before the issuance of a permit, by a criminal history background investigation that it is not a violation of State or federal law for the applicant to purchase, transfer, receive, or possess a handgun. The sheriff shall determine the criminal and background history of any applicant by accessing computerized criminal history records as maintained by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, by conducting a national criminal history records check, by conducting a check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), and by conducting a criminal history check through the Administrative Office of the Courts.][/size]
[size=(2) Fully satisfied himself or herself by affidavits, oral evidence, or otherwise, as to the good moral character of the applicant.][/size]
[size=(3) Fully satisfied himself or herself that the applicant desires the possession of the weapon mentioned for (i) the protection of the home, business, person, family or property, (ii) target shooting, (iii) collecting, or (iv) hunting.][/size]
[size=(b) If the sheriff is not fully satisfied, the sheriff may, for good cause shown, decline to issue the license or permit and shall provide to the applicant within seven days of the refusal a written statement of the reason(s) for the refusal. An appeal from the refusal shall lie by way of petition to the chief judge of the district court for the district in which the application was filed. The determination by the court, on appeal, shall be upon the facts, the law, and the reasonableness of the sheriff's refusal, and shall be final.][/size]
