Here was my note to the governor. Submit yours here.
Governor Perdue,
In the Executive Order you issued yesterday declaring a State of Emergency for several North Carolina counties, you asserted the following:
“This order is adopted pursuant to my powers under Article 1 of Chapter 166A of the General Statutes and under Article 36A of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes. It does not trigger the limitations on weapons in G.S. § 14-288.7 or impose any limitation on the consumption, transportation, sale or purchase of alcoholic beverages.”
After the issuance of EO62 on 9/1/2010 right at the beginning of Dove season and the ensuing uproar regarding the ban on firearms off of one’s own property that is spelled out in Article 36A, Chapter 14, all subsequent EOs issued by your office until this this one have specifically stated that they were only being issued under Article 1 of Chapter 166A.
Your comments following the issuance of EO62 indicated that you were not invoking the firearms ban provisions of the law (presumable due to the court case, Bateman vs. Perdue). I question your authority to invoke Article 36A of Chapter 14 in an a-la-carte fashion.
You have put the Sheriffs’ Offices in the 39 counties listed in EO103 in a rather difficult legal position. Do they enforce the law as written? Or do they do as the governor says? This morning, I spoke with Johnston County Chief Deputy Bengie Gaddis and he indicated that his office will not be going after those exercising their right to keep and bear arms during this State of Emergency. But the question this raises is, why is a Sheriff’s office choosing to selective enforce the law as written?
I implore you to terminate this Executive Order immediately and re-issue it invoking only Article 1 of Chapter 166A. You could also re-issue without the exclusion of the firearms ban, as well, which would at least provide clarity to the Sheriffs’ Offices in those 39 counties. I believe those are the only legally sound actions you can take regarding the matter.
Thank you for your time.