Grass Roots North Carolina has filed for a preliminary injunction in its ongoing dispute with the Mecklenburg County sheriff, alleging foot dragging by the sheriff’s department in the issuance of concealed handgun permits within the time period required by North Carolina law.
Joining GRNC are Gun Owners of America, the Gun Owners Foundation, Rights Watch International and three Mecklenburg County residents, Sara Beth Williams, Bruce Kane and Jason Yepko. Defendants are Mecklenburg Sheriff Garry McFadden and his department.
The 24-page complaint and four-page motion for a preliminary injunction were filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Charlotte Division.
According to a GRNC news release, the group won a preliminary injunction followed by a June 8 consent order requiring McFadden to process pistol purchase permit applications within the 14-day time frame required by state law. The order also required the department to take fingerprints on the same day a concealed carry applicant arrives at the sheriff’s office for fingerprinting.
However, according to the complaint, the department has been continuing to delay the process.
“By design and effect,” the complaint says, “Defendants have made use of the open-ended discretion granted by the challenged state statute, deliberately drawing out the permitting process within Mecklenburg County for up to and exceeding an entire year. By contrast, the very same permits can be acquired in every other county across the state in just a few days or weeks.”
The GRNC news release accuses McFadden of “exploiting a loophole in North Carolina law.” Among the allegations:
- § 14-415.12 requires CHP applicants not “suffer from a physical or mental infirmity that prevents the safe handling of a handgun.”
- § 14-415.15 (a) says: “within 45 days after receipt of the items listed in G.S. 14-415.13 from an applicant, and receipt of the required records concerning the mental health or capacity of the applicant, the sheriff shall either issue or deny the permit.”
- Although the statute does not stipulate what inquiries are required or permitted, normal practice is for sheriffs to submit requests to, at most, local mental health facilities.
- Unlike other sheriffs, McFadden is flooding the Veterans’ Administration (VA) with record requests not only for military veterans, but for ALL concealed handgun permit applicants, including those who never served in the military, creating a backlog at the VA which is, in any case, under no obligation to provide background check services for non-veterans.
- McFadden is misinterpreting § 14-415.15 (a) by falsely claiming that he has 45 days AFTER receipt of mental health records to process applications even though the statute clearly says 45 days AND receipt of mental health records.
“Despite a consent order requiring him to obey North Carolina law,” GRNC President Paul Valone asserted in a prepared statement, “Sheriff Garry McFadden appears to be deliberately delaying and obstructing concealed handgun permit applications by flooding the Veterans Administration with records requests, even for applicants who never served in the military.”
He vowed to file as many legal actions as necessary to get the desired results.
