wait a god damn minute.... Police released video from inside the school. The video shows a person police say is Hale shooting out the school’s glass doors before walking around the school opening doors while wearing a vest, camouflage pants and a red baseball cap and carrying a gun.
In North Carolina news today... North Carolina ends pistol permit system North Carolina Republicans scrapped the state's long-lived pistol permit requirement Wednesday, aided by the absence of several Democrats, which gave Republicans the numbers they needed to overturn Gov. Roy Cooper's veto for the first time since Republicans lost their veto-proof super majorities in the 2018 elections. https://www.wral.com/north-carolina-ends-pistol-permit-system/20786246/ North Carolina Republicans scrapped the state’s long-lived pistol permit requirement Wednesday, aided by the absence of several key Democrats, which gave Republicans the numbers they needed to overturn Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto for the first time since the GOP lost their veto-proof super majorities in the 2018 elections. No longer will North Carolinians buying a handgun need to get permission first from their local sheriff. They’ll still need a federal background check to buy from a licensed dealer, which means handgun purchases in the state will be treated the same as rifles and shotguns. The state sheriffs’ association backed the change, though there was dissent from Democratic sheriffs in North Carolina’s largest counties. Concerns about loopholes the bill may open – the way North Carolina law defines domestic violence keeps the federal system from flagging most convictions – were dismissed. The pistol permit repeal takes effect immediately. The Alamance County Sheriff's Office announced shortly after the vote that it would not longer issue permits, including permits already applied for but not yet issued. Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead, who was at the legislature Wednesday and opposed the vote, said his office was preparing to dismantle its permit program too. The vote was 71-46, dividing on party lines. Three Democrats missed the vote: reps. Michael Wray, Tricia Cotham and Cecil Brockman. That gave Republicans, one seat shy of a super majority in the House, the margin they needed to vote the measure through, which they did quickly and without allowing debate. Brockman's office said he had to visit urgent care this morning and didn't provide other details. Cotham and Wray didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. House Democratic Leader Robert Reives said he didn't know where they were. All three of these lawmakers have been considered more likely to work with Republican leadership this session, where vote margins will be closely watched and deals will likely be cut to pass GOP priorities over the Democratic governor's veto. Wednesday's vote came against the backdrop of consistent American gun violence and a school shooting in Nashville this week that left six dead, including three 9-year-old children. Immediately after the vote Reives, D-Chatham, apologized to school children who were on a routine tour of the General Assembly and sitting in the House gallery watching the proceedings. He told them the House is usually a deliberative body. “Breaks my heart,” Reives said. Republicans countered that this legislation, discussed at the statehouse for years, already had been heavily debated as it moved through various committees, then cleared the House and Senate floors over the last two months. The state Senate, where Republicans hold a veto-proof majority, took a party-line vote to override Cooper on this bill Tuesday. The National Rifle Association said in a statement following the House vote that the permit system "served no public service in North Carolina." "Law-abiding residents should not have to ask the government for permission to exercise their Second Amendment rights," the group said. Tuesday morning's House session broke soon after the vote, with lawmakers planning to return to the chamber at 2 p.m. Once session broke, a visibly angry Reives spoke to reporters, saying recent events may swayed opinions on the bill, but Democrats weren’t allowed to bring that up. “We deserved to have a voice heard today on that issue,” he said. “And it is so disturbing to me … a whole part of this body is being told: ‘You speak when spoken to.’” Reives said the high school attended, Lee County High School, closed yesterday because of an anonymous threat. “I am a gun owner. … I have grown up with a family of gun owners," Reives said. "But there is a thing called responsibility at some point. That’s our job. Our job isn’t convenience. How dare I go back and look at those students at Lee Senior the next time I go speak at Lee Senior and say ‘Well we would have talked about your lockdown, but we didn’t have time.’” The thin majority in the House makes attendance extremely important in the House. Reives said Rep. Marvin Lucas, a Democrat who voted for this bill when it passed the chamber earlier this month but voted against the override, attended Wednesday's session with a leg broken in three places. He put off surgery to be there, Reives said. "He deserved to be able to say, 'Guys I voted for this bill but here's the reason I'm not voting for the bill today," Reives said. "Eighty years old. Three breaks in his leg. Should have had surgery yesterday ... and what he got told today was, 'No, you're not going to talk today because we're not going to allow it." Senate Bill 41, titled “Guarantee 2nd Amend Freedom and Protections" does other things in addition to ending the pistol permit system. It lets people with concealed carry permits to carry weapons into churches that also host private schools, as long as school, including extra-curricular activities, isn’t in session. "There is no reason church-goers should be restricted from protecting themselves when worshipping,” NRA State Director D.J. Spiker said in a statement. “This has been a hard-fought battle, and I’m thrilled to say North Carolina is a freer state because of the state legislature's actions.” Speaker of the House Tim Moore said in a statement that the pistol permit system was outdated and that the measures approved were all "long-standing goals of Second Amendment advocates in our state." The bill also creates a safe firearm storage awareness campaign meant to educate the public and boost distribution of gun locks.