Senator Jim Perry, (R- Craven, Beaufort, Lenoir) is headed for a showdown with North Carolina Governor, Roy Cooper. Perry is one of three primary sponsors of Senate Bill 41, “Guarantee 2nd Amendment Freedom and Protections.” The bill was presented to the Governor on March 16th after passing both the NC Senate and NC House. Governor Cooper has 10 days to veto, or sign the legislation or it will become law without his signature.
Cooper has vetoed similar legislation in the past.

Perry is well known in the General Assembly to be an avid hunter and Second Amendment advocate. The NRA stamps Perry with one of their extremely rare “A+” ratings from their political advocacy arm.  Additionally, his efforts to protect gun rights are lauded by groups like Grass Roots NC and Gun Owners of America.

“Roy Cooper has loved that veto stamp and we haven’t been able to override him. Donations pour in from out of state donors when he vetoes certain bills. If he vetoes this one, his streak will come to an end and I believe he knows it. I think he is scared, politically. We will see if he has the courage of his convictions, or if he lets this become law without his signature.”

If Governor Cooper does choose to veto the bill and it is successfully overridden, he will likely face many more difficult decisions in the near future. Republican Members of the General Assembly feel the Governor acted improperly when declaring a state of emergency lasting 888 days.

“It was simply an abuse of power. Lt. Governor Robinson and I had a call last week with a family that could still lose everything as a result of fallout from Governor Cooper’s actions.  We’ve positioned the General Assembly to ensure that type of tyranny doesn’t happen again. One person rule over a state is always bad, regardless of the person.
The Governor has some tough choices ahead of him in the short term, and we are going to see what he is made of when the final budget goes to his desk and he sees some of the language we will include. He is going to have to eat his broccoli.”

Perry was joined by established second amendment advocates Senators Danny Britt, Warren Daniel and Bobby Hanig in drafting the legislation. 

Senator Perry serves as Majority Whip of the North Carolina Senate and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.