Tracking Changes In North Carolina Gun Culture

Following the deadly shooting in Parkland, Florida, there's a national movement driven by young people for stricter gun control measures. And that debate is playing out here at home. When it comes to the rate of gun ownership, conceal carry licensing, and hunting, North Carolina ranks in right in the middle.

But what about gun culture in the Tar Heel State? Is it changing?

Earlier this month, at various locations across the state, it may have felt that way. Thousands gathered to attend rallies for the "March for Our Lives," organized in response to the Parkland, Florida shootings in which 17 people died.

Among those protesting was Wake Forest University student Amy Weinstock.

“What I would say most about gun violence is the fact that this is the only country where this is a problem,” says Weinstock. “In every other developed, non-war zone country, they don't have these kinds of issues. They don't have to march for guns. And it's a really sad reality that Columbine was over 20 years ago, and we're still fighting these things.”

Weinstock was joined by hundreds of students, educators and community members in downtown Winston-Salem.

Just about an hour's drive north, at the Rockingham County Gun Club, gun owner Brian Becraft is teaching his girlfriend how to shoot for the very first time. He urges caution when it comes to moving forward on any legislation, but he adds that things are different now.

“Not to say that the Florida shooting was the only time I'd thought about gun control, but after that one, the signs to it were just so clear,” says Becraft. “We need to do something to stop people like that.”

At the clubhouse here, gun hobbyist Lil Alverson says her biggest concern is that since the shooting, people are acting inappropriately and putting the blame where it doesn't belong.

“We don't need any new gun laws, because guns don't shoot people,” says Alverson. “Criminals shoot people.”

This state has traditionally been pretty gun-friendly, at least when it comes to its laws. North Carolina was given a D minus—just shy of receiving an F—by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. But gun culture—and whether it's changing—is harder to measure, especially in this emotionally charged environment, according to Elon Poll Director Jason Husser.

“I don't have good data on where North Carolinians overall currently stand on the issue,” he says. “The topic leads to people hanging up. And so, we try to ask survey questions that get people through the entire survey.”

But we do know this: nationally, more than three-quarters of Americans want gun laws to be more strict than they are today. That's up 7 percent from last fall, according to a recent Ipsos/NPR poll. Here in North Carolina, Gov. Roy Cooper has stated his full support for those measures, and more.

So, is change in the air? 

David Yamane authors the blog Gun Culture 2.0. He says, maybe, but it began years ago.

“A lot of people were disappointed after Sandy Hook because no legislation was passed immediately.  But what did happen was a[n] infusion of money and organization into the gun control movement that hadn't been there previously, so that when the Parkland shooting happened, the students there were able to come into a situation in which a lot of the groundwork had already been laid for their success.”

But a new Associated Press poll finds that nearly half of Americans do not expect elected officials to take action. Yamane says the challenge for gun control proponents is that public opinion is always filtered through the structure of our representative government. 

“Currently in North Carolina, we have a general assembly that is very heavily dominated by the Republican Party,” says Yamane. “And so, it doesn't really matter if the overall population in the state favors these gun control measures. Without getting the Republicans in the assembly on board, nothing is going to happen. And the same can be said at the federal level.”

Yamane's referring to lawmakers like North Carolina Senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis. They're among the top four beneficiaries of money from the National Rifle Association in the entire Congress.

In Tillis' narrow 2014 senate victory, he received $4.5 million dollars against his opponent, then-incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan. In 2016 Burr received nearly $5.6 million dollars for his re-election campaign.

Burr says as far as reform goes, we need to lay everything on the table that's constitutional. But, in an interview with WFDD this month, he adds that solving the problem of gun violence by changing the laws won't be easy.

"If you take the guns away, terrorist acts happen with knives," he says. "If you take the knives away, terrorist acts happen with cars. So, crazy people do weird things."

Neither Burr nor Tillis have publicly endorsed the restrictions on guns being demanded by the March for Our Lives movement. But emotions are running high, with people coming out in droves to say, “Enough.” Earlier this month, about 70 protesters marched outside of Burr's local office to send a message to their senator.

Cary Clifford was among them. She says there's a political price to be paid for inaction.

“Richard Burr has gotten $7 million dollars in NRA support over his career," says Clifford. “That is a sickening fact, and he needs to be held accountable.”

Recent national polls show gun violence to be the number one issue worrying Americans, with roughly two-thirds saying guns will be an important factor in their vote in the midterm elections.