Cooper vetoes bill that would have allowed guns in churches on school campuses

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill Friday that would have allowed people to carry guns into religious buildings that share a property with a school when the school was not in session.

The bill passed the Republican-led legislature earlier this month with limited Democratic support. It was titled “The Religious Assembly Security and Protection Act of 2021.”

“For the safety of students and teachers, North Carolina should keep guns off school grounds,” said Cooper, a Democrat, in a statement announcing his veto.

Bill drafters made it clear in the text that guns would not be permitted in an actual school building but into religious buildings sharing a property with the school.

Following Friday’s veto, House Speaker Tim Moore immediately responded with an emailed news release saying that the bill passed the House with veto-proof margins and called it “narrowly targeted legislation.”

“North Carolina must always be steadfast in protecting our Second Amendment rights and our religious liberty,” Moore wrote.

Current law allows concealed-carry permit holders to have guns in church or other religious services, except when schools also operate on the property. Religious institutions can bar gun owners from carrying.

The bill would create a new exception to bans on weapons on educational property by allowing concealed carry in places of religious worship that are also schools under certain conditions, according to the bill summary.

Rep. Jeff McNeely, a Stony Point Republican, told House members on June 3 that North Carolina had 533 schools that share properties with “churches.”

The bill caused a lengthy and heated debate among House members before passing 70-38, with five Democrats voting with Republicans.

When the bill got to the Senate it passed 30 to 19 with the support of three Democrats and no discussion.

North Carolinians Against Gun Violence Action Fund sent a news release Friday thanking Cooper for the veto. The release said that the bill would have needlessly put school children at increased risk and that, while the bill wouldn’t allow guns on campus during school activities, there would be an increased likelihood that the distinction would not be understood and guns would be prevalent.

“We thank Governor Cooper for vetoing this dangerous bill that circumvents state policy outlawing concealed carry of firearms on school grounds and would put school children at more risk of gun violence,” said Becky Ceartas, the organization’s executive director. “State law applies to both public and private school property and makes no exception for schools owned and operated by places of worship for a simple reason: it endangers school children.”

In March, several organizations protested against the bill.

“Let’s be clear, the bill’s real aim is guns in schools starting with places of worship with affiliated schools on its premises,” said Jessica Burroughs, campaign director of MomsRising NC, at a March news conference.

Rep. Keith Kidwell, a Republican from Chocowinity, said both he and his pastors carry guns in church and that “an armed people is a polite people,” the NC Insider previously reported.

Ron Baity, a pastor at Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, spoke in favor of the bill at the legislature, according to NC Policy Watch.

“If a gunman is in our church, and he’s pulling the trigger, and he’s reloading in 10 minutes — if we don’t take him out, if we’re not able to stop him, he can take out most of our congregations,” he said.

Cooper vetoed a similar bill in 2020, saying then that “this bill allows guns on school property which threatens the safety of students and teachers.” The House was unable to override Cooper’s veto.

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This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 2:56 PM.