Carolina Journal’s Dan Way reports on legislative action that puts all eyes on two filing cabinets held by Durham officials.
Durham County officials are awaiting a ruling from the state on what to do with tens of thousands of gun owners’ personal information now that the county’s Jim Crow-era gun registry has been repealed in a “very large” legislative victory.
“I have asked that question to the people in Raleigh at the Administrative Office of the Courts, and they are researching it, and they are supposed to get back to me to let me know what’s going to happen with these,” said Cindy Buchanan, Durham County assistant clerk of court/head cashier. “So right now I don’t have an answer.”
A local legislative bill created Durham County’s gun roll, the only firearm registration system in North Carolina, in 1935.
State Sen. Mike Woodard, D-Durham, introduced a local bill that was passed into law June 18 abolishing the registration requirement. Because it was a local bill, it became law without the governor’s signature after passing both chambers of the General Assembly.
“We’ve got an alert going out right now to have people contact the county commission to demand these records be destroyed,” said Paul Valone, president of Grass Roots North Carolina, a nonprofit gun rights organization.
“If that doesn’t work, I suppose we need to look into legal action. Gun registration is not legal in North Carolina, period, end of story,” Valone said.
