THE 30TH STATE PLEDGE

A promise to all North Carolinians to uphold their right to bear arms.

A public commitment by candidates for the North Carolina General Assembly

The right to keep and bear arms is not granted by the Second Amendment. It is recognized by it. Government does not issue that right, and government cannot condition it on a fee, a class, a waiting period, or the discretion of an official.

North Carolina remains one of the shrinking number of states that requires a law-abiding adult to purchase permission before carrying a firearm for self-defense. Twenty-nine states have ended that requirement. Every state on our southern and western borders has ended it. North Carolina has not — not because the votes were never there, but because the vote was never taken.

This pledge takes its name from the map. Twenty-nine states have done it. North Carolina can be the thirtieth.

Voters have been promised this for two consecutive sessions. Promises are cheap. Recorded votes are not.

I am therefore putting my commitment in writing, before the election, where any voter can hold it against me afterward.

THE PLEDGE

I, ___________________________________, candidate for the North Carolina House of Representatives in District ______, pledge to the voters of my district that if elected I will:

1. Support every measure that removes a barrier to lawful firearm ownership. I will vote for legislation that repeals or narrows permits, fees, registries, waiting periods, licensing schemes, arbitrary classification bans, magazine limits, storage mandates, and any other statutory obstacle placed between a law-abiding adult and the firearm they choose to own.

2. Affirm the right the Second Amendment enumerates. I will treat the right to keep and bear arms as a pre-existing individual right that the Constitution recognizes rather than confers, and I will apply that standard to every bill that reaches my desk — including bills carried by my own party.

3. Support every legislative effort to make North Carolina a constitutional carry state. I will vote yes on any bill, amendment, conference report, or veto override that permits a law-abiding adult who may lawfully possess a handgun to carry it, openly or concealed, without a state permit or state-mandated training requirement. This explicitly includes the pending override of the veto of Senate Bill 50, "Freedom to Carry NC."

And if that override fails, or is never called, I will not treat the matter as settled. I will draft, file, cosponsor, and actively advance new constitutional carry legislation in the next session and in every session thereafter, for as long as I hold the seat or until North Carolina becomes the thirtieth constitutional carry state. A bill that dies is a bill to be filed again. I will be the one to file it.

4. Remove every state-level barrier to NFA-regulated firearms and accessories. Federal law moved in 2026. The $200 transfer tax on suppressors and other National Firearms Act items fell to zero on January 1, and in August a federal court barred enforcement of NFA registration for suppressors across much of the country. North Carolinians received none of the benefit, because our own statutes — chiefly N.C.G.S. § 14-288.8 — make state legality conditional on federal NFA registration. I will support and advance legislation removing all state-level NFA restrictions on firearms, suppressors, and accessories, to the fullest extent allowable under federal law, so that the rights of North Carolinians expand the moment federal restrictions recede instead of staying frozen in place by our own General Statutes.

5. Oppose new barriers. I will vote no on any legislation that creates a new restriction, fee, license, registry, or precondition on the ownership, carry, transfer, manufacture, or transport of lawful firearms, ammunition, or accessories.

6. Refuse to trade the right away. I will not vote for a firearms restriction as a bargaining chip for unrelated legislation, a budget provision, a committee assignment, or leadership's convenience.

7. Show up and vote on the record. I will be present and I will cast a recorded vote on every firearms measure that reaches the floor. I will not use absence, adjournment, calendar withdrawal, or procedural delay to avoid taking a public position. Where a vote is scheduled and pulled, I will say publicly that it was pulled and who pulled it.

8. Answer for it. I will publish my votes on these measures, in plain language, within thirty days of casting them, and I will answer questions about any vote a constituent believes violates this pledge.

This pledge is binding on my conduct in office, not on my rhetoric during a campaign. It is written so that a voter can check it against a roll call.

Signed by:

• Angela Humphries (NC House District 3)
• Nick Taylor (NC House District 25)
• Ed George (NC House District 34)
• Wayne Cockrell (NC House District 39)
• Lucas Everett Jones (NC House District 40)
• Christopher Sessions (NC House District 53)
• Matthew P. Clements (NC House District 56)

Any candidate for any office in North Carolina, of any party or no party, is invited to sign this pledge. It is not owned, licensed, or restricted. Sign it, publish it, and be measured against it.