NC House votes to loosen gun restrictions with lifetime concealed-carry permit

Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan, The Charlotte Observer on May 7, 2025

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North Carolina gun owners who want concealed carry handgun permits could soon have to apply only once in their lives, if a bill in the state legislature becomes law.

The current law requires concealed carry permit holders to renew the permits every five years.

Under House Bill 674, which passed the House on Wednesday evening, there would be a new lifetime concealed carry permit, too.

Holders of that permit would be able to keep it for life, never again having to take another firearm safety and training course or pass another background check.

The bill passed 70-42 with mostly Republican votes, and with some Democrats objecting to ending the renewal process. Rep. Shelly Willingham, a Rocky Mount Democrat and retired law enforcement officer, voted in favor of the bill.

Republicans argued that the process was burdensome to permit holders and that some states require no permits at all — something that has also been proposed for North Carolina.

Rep. Tracy Clark, a Guilford County Democrat, argued against the bill, saying that “a lot can happen in the 5, 10, 20 years since approval.”

Democratic Rep. Marcia Morey of Durham, a former judge, agreed with Clark.

“As many of you like to say on that side of the aisle, about ‘good guys with the gun,’ OK, that’s fine, good guys with the gun. But a lifetime — there can be a lot of changes,” Morey said.

“So this five-year is just a check make sure the good guy with a gun stays a good guy who’s confident, who’s safe and knows how to operate the gun, does not have any affliction that would be a danger to one’s self, or the public,” she said. Morey said renewing a permit every five years is “common sense.”

Rep. Jay Adams, a Catawba County Republican, countered that “someone can go off the deep end” two days after getting any permit or license, and the permit doesn’t prevent “bad behavior.”

The bill now goes to the Senate, which can choose to do nothing, change the bill in committee or take it up as it is for a vote.

What’s next for concealed carry bills

In March, the Senate passed a bill along party lines that would allow someone to carry a concealed handgun without a permit, The News & Observer previously reported.

That means both House and Senate Republicans have sent each other a bill that would change the law on concealed carry handgun permits to loosen existing gun regulations.

House Speaker Destin Hall said Republicans do plan to take up full permit repeal in this session. He said the House’s bill to eliminate concealed carry permits is virtually identical to the Senate’s, and they may take up the Senate version because it already advanced.

As for the lifetime concealed carry permit bill that passed Wednesday, Hall said: “Whether we have a requirement for a permit in this state or not, that’s still useful for folks because they get a permit here that they can use in other states.”

“So they need that regardless of whether we have a permit or not,” Hall said.

Republicans have a veto-proof supermajority in the Senate, and are one vote short of that threshold in the House.

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