THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603220529
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 123 lines
Signs cropping up outside North Carolina stores and government buildings no longer just warn smokers away. Now the familiar circles with black slashes through them also contain miniature pictures of handguns.
But nearly four months after a state law was passed allowing residents to carry concealed handguns, sheriffs in the Albemarle region say people haven't been knocking down their doors for permit requests.
Even fewer residents have asked the sheriffs to waive the usual two- to three-month process to grant an emergency permit.
In five counties - Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hyde and Pasquotank - about 300 people have applied for permits, sheriffs said.
Under the law, sheriffs have the discretion to issue a permit for not more than 90 days ``to a person who the sheriff reasonably believes is in an emergency situation that may constitute a risk of safety to the person, the person's family or property.'' All the proper paperwork still has to be handed in first.
``If there's an extremely urgent reason, I might issue them,'' Dare County Sheriff Bert Austin said Wednesday. ``They're going to have to prove someone wants to kill them.''
Ultimately, sheriffs in each of North Carolina's 100 counties are the ones who decide who deserves to carry a concealed weapon. Sheriffs check all background information the applicant submits. Then fingerprints are checked by the state and federal Bureaus of Investigation.
If the applicant is found to have a record, it is up to the sheriff to decide whether the infraction disqualifies the applicant to pack a concealed gun. The law outlines 11 reasons to deny the permit.
Sheriffs are required to send an application to the state within 90 days of receiving it. But the law is unclear on whether they have to wait for the results before issuing the four-year permit. Complaints of prolonged delays have been reported from several counties.
Ron Hawley, the assistant director of the SBI in Raleigh, said that as of March 19, 15,097 applications had been submitted to the state; the law took effect Dec. 1. Most permits were processed within 75 days, he said. On average, it takes about 22 days to complete the fingerprint check, with about 98 percent sent to the FBI for cross-checking from other states.
The FBI has been swamped with requests for fingerprint checks - not only from the 28 states that have concealed-handgun laws, but also from schools and day care centers requesting background checks on potential employees, said FBI media spokesman Paul Bresson. He said the agency's turnaround on fingerprint checks is between 15 and 20 workdays.
Austin said out of about 150 requests, only about 10 Dare County applications have been sent back by the state.
Of the 100 or so people who have applied for concealed weapons permits in Currituck County, Sheriff Glenn Brinkley said he is definitely influenced if he knows the applicant. Occasionally, he said, he has agreed to issue the temporary permits.
``We check. But it depends . . . if I know the person, I don't have a problem,'' said Brinkley, who has been with the sheriff's department for 24 years. ``I will go ahead and issue that card, since I've known that person all my life.''
But sheriffs in Gates, Pasquotank and Hyde counties were more hesitant to issue temporary permits.
Hyde County Sheriff David Mason said he's comfortable with the five people who have applied to carry a concealed gun. But he turned down the one request he had for an emergency permit. Yet he said he understands why a sheriff would feel easier about giving permits to folks he or she knows.
``We'd have to take each case individually and base it on that. I don't think you can have a rock-solid policy,'' Mason said. ``I was born and raised down here and am very familiar with the people.''
Mason added: ``I personally believe that the people that are going to go through all this are not the ones who are dangerous.''
In Pasquotank County, the sheriff said there's always a risk that people will use guns irresponsibly ``no matter what kind of law you pass.
``Most of the people who come in and apply are respectable people,'' Sheriff Randy Cartwright said. ``Most of them are level-headed . . . . I would guess it depends on where you live.''
Cartwright said he has processed about 35 applications for Pasquotank County - which has a population of 34,000.
Gates County is even smaller: population 10,000. But Sheriff Elmo Benton said his policy is that he won't issue a concealed weapon permit to the four people who have applied until the background check is complete - at least for the time being.
Benton conceded that the law makes him nervous.
``I don't think any John Doe walking off the street should be allowed to have a concealed weapon,'' he said. ``I have mixed feelings about it. I'm afraid it's going to cause some people to be injured or hurt. Some people have a false sense of security with a gun.''
Under the law, applicants must complete an approved firearms safety and training course before they can receive a permit.
The sheriffs also worry that the required training is inadequate, that permit holders do not have to carry the weapon they were trained with and that the law does not clearly define the number of weapons the gunholder is allowed to carry concealed at one time.
``The standards could be a little tighter to make sure people are capable of handling the weapon,'' Cartwright said. ``I think it should be at least a minimum of what a police student is required to know. If the people aren't trained, that gun is going to be used against them.'' MEMO: WHO GETS A GUN?
Ultimately, sheriffs in each of North Carolina's 100 counties are the
ones who decide who deserves to carry a concealed weapon. Sheriffs
check all background information the applicant submits. Then
fingerprints are checked by the state and federal Bureaus of
Investigation.
If the applicant is found to have a record, it is up to the sheriff to
decide if the infraction disqualifies the applicant to pack a concealed
gun. The law outlines 11 reasons to deny the permit.
KEYWORDS: GUN CONTROL HANDGUN GUN PERMIT by CNB