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 — The state House and Senate have approved a sweeping package of gun laws that tighten penalties for those who violate firearm laws and expand where those with concealed handgun permits can carry their weapons. 
 
 The bill now goes to Gov. Pat McCrory for his signature or veto. 
 
 An earlier version of the bill passed by the system would have done away with North Carolina's system of requiring a handgun purchase permit for those who want to buy a pistol but don't hold a concealed handgun permit. The House rejected the bill largely based on this measure. 
 
 The compromise passed by by both chambers Tuesday keeps the current handgun permit system in place but gives local sheriffs less latitude in issuing the permits. Sheriffs will no longer be able restrict the number of handgun permits an individual can obtain in a year, something that some sheriffs do now. Also, sheriffs will have to keep a record and show cause when they reject a handgun permit application. 
 
 "There's really no uniformity of practices now," said Rep. Jacqueline Schaffer, R-Mecklenburg. "You can have difference in outcomes in Wake County versus Mecklenburg." 
 
 Other parts of the bill will allow concealed handgun permit holders to bring their weapons to bars and restaurants that serve alcohol – although they are not supposed to consume alcohol – carry them in funeral processions and allow them to keep firearms locked in their car when parked on college or public school campuses. 
 
 The bill also removes information regarding those who hold concealed handgun permits from public view. 
 
 The bill also strengthens penalties for those who violate firearms laws and will increase the amount of information, such as mental health problems, in the state's background check system. 
 
 The House passed the measure on a 73-41 vote. The Senate passed the measure on a 32-14 vote. 
 
 Rep. Grier Martin, D-Wake, said he represents a number of colleges and universities in his midtown Raleigh district. 
 
 "I haven't heard from a single one of them this bill is a good idea," Martin said. 
 
 But Rep. John Faircloth, R-Guilford, a former police chief, said that the college provision merely makes legal something that already happens as parents pick up students or businessmen meet with university executives. 
 
 "Let's don't fool ourselves, there are guns on our campuses," Faircloth said. 
 
 In the Senate, backers of the bill said that the expansion of rights for concealed handgun permit holders was appropriate. 
 
 Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover, noted that those who obtain such permits go through extra training and background checks. 
 
 "They're the people we don't have to worry about," he said. ||||| North Carolina lawmakers have approved a bill greatly expanding where concealed handguns are legally allowed. 
 
 The Republican-backed bill approved by both the House and Senate on Tuesday allows concealed-carry permit holders to take firearms into bars and restaurants and other places where alcohol is served as long as the owner doesn't expressly forbid it. 
 
 The measure will also allow concealed-carry permit holders to store weapons in locked cars on the campus of any public school or university. Guns will also now be allowed on greenways, playgrounds and other public recreation areas. 
 
 The final bill dropped a controversial provision that would have repealed the long-standing law requiring a background check and permit issued by county sheriffs for handgun purchases. 
 
 The measure now heads to Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's desk. ||||| Soon-to-be graduates, Callie Rittweger, left, and Ashley Owen, right, from the University of Georgia's Franklin College of Arts communications program, pose for photos at the Arch, Thursday, May 04, 2017.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Soon-to-be graduates, Callie Rittweger, left, and Ashley Owen, right, from the University of Georgia's Franklin College of Arts communications program, pose for photos at the Arch, Thursday, May 04, 2017. The university will be having its graduation ceremony May 5 at Sanford Stadium. Georgia Governor... (Associated Press) 
 
 Soon-to-be graduates, Callie Rittweger, left, and Ashley Owen, right, from the University of Georgia's Franklin College of Arts communications program, pose for photos at the Arch, Thursday, May 04, 2017. The university will be having its graduation ceremony May 5 at Sanford Stadium. Georgia Governor... (Associated Press) Soon-to-be graduates, Callie Rittweger, left, and Ashley Owen, right, from the University of Georgia's Franklin College of Arts communications program, pose for photos at the Arch, Thursday, May 04, 2017.... (Associated Press) 
 
 ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's public university presidents and police chiefs were strongly opposed to letting people carry concealed handguns on college campuses. Now that Gov. Nathan Deal has signed the campus-carry law, it falls on them to figure out how to implement it before the next school year begins. 
 
 Deal's strenuous objections to guns on campus in a veto message the year before had many Georgians hoping the outgoing Republican governor, who is term-limited and plans to retire next year, would issue another veto. 
 
 But Deal said in a written message released Thursday evening that he was swayed by exclusions that lawmakers wrote into House Bill 280, adding places on campus where even people with state-issued permits won't be allowed to carry concealed handguns. 
 
 These include preschools, faculty or administrative offices, disciplinary hearings and areas where high schoolers take classes. 
 
 "These excluded areas represent the most 'sensitive places' on a college campus," Deal wrote. "It is altogether appropriate that weapons not be allowed in these areas. I appreciate the thoughtful consideration given by the General Assembly in expanding these excluded areas within a college campus in this year's bill." 
 
 Other places where concealed handguns remain prohibited include dormitories, fraternity and sorority houses and buildings used for athletic events. 
 
 In a message to leaders of the University System of Georgia's 28 institutions, Chancellor Steve Wrigley said administrators will provide guidance on implementing the law, which becomes effective July 1. 
 
 "We recognize that many have strong feelings about this new law," Wrigley wrote. "It is important that we all work together across our campuses to implement the new law appropriately and continue to provide a top-quality education to our students." 
 
 Campus leaders have said that allowing concealed handguns will make it much more difficult for officers to maintain security in extreme situations. 
 
 Now they'll need to develop new protocols, since every campus is a collection of places where the prohibitions may or may not apply. Violations by "weapons carry license holders" are misdemeanors, punishable by $25 fines and no jail time. 
 
 Georgia joins nine other states that allow concealed weapons to be carried on campuses. Permit-holders must be at least 21 — or at least 18 with proof of basic training or active service in the military. Applicants must provide fingerprints for a criminal record check, and undergo an additional federal background check. 
 
 Supporters say people must be able to protect themselves while traveling to and from campus or within school grounds. But faculty and student groups worry Georgia's campuses will be less appealing for those considering other options for school or work. 
 
 Deal had shocked fellow Republicans with the tone of last year's veto message, which referenced opposition to guns on the University of Virginia campus by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and an opinion by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia that described schools as "sensitive places" under the Second Amendment. 
 
 In signing this year's bill, advocacy groups accused Deal of capitulating to the National Rifle Association, which held its annual convention last week in downtown Atlanta. 
 
 "This flip-flop will be what Georgians remember about our Governor for years to come — that he bent to the Washington gun lobby that came to town for a couple of days for a convention, rather than listening to his own constituents and campus stakeholders," said Lindsey Donovan, a volunteer with the anti-gun violence group Moms Demand Action. "This will be the legacy he leaves behind."
– So long as Gov. Pat McCrory puts his pen to it, a bill allowing North Carolina residents to carry concealed handguns into bars and on playgrounds will soon be law, reports the AP. The Republican-backed bill was approved by both the House and Senate yesterday, and would give concealed-carry permit holders the right to take their gun into any place where alcohol is served—this includes restaurants—as long as the owner doesn't expressly forbid it. WRAL reports on two other expansions: Such weapons could also be kept in a locked car that's parked at a public school or university, and can be carried in funeral processions. Republican Sen. Thom Goolsby pointed out that concealed handgun permit holders undergo additional training and background checks. "They're the people we don't have to worry about," he tells WRAL. On the flip side, the bill also beefs up the penalties levied on those who violate gun laws, and didn't include a contentious provision that would have repealed the need for gun purchasers to submit to a background check, notes ABC 11.