According to Firearm Chronicles
Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker agreed on Tuesday that his office will resume accepting pistol purchase permit applications within seven days. In a consent order filed Tuesday in Wake County, the sheriff has agreed to “modify the application process” to ensure that applications can still be received and processed while allowing for social distancing procedures to minimize the spread of the coronavirus among employees of the sheriff’s office and the public.
The agreement comes just days after the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Council, and Grassroots NC filed a federal lawsuit over Baker’s suspension of permit applications, which are a necessary step in order to legally purchase a handgun in the state. Under North Carolina law, sheriffs have 14 business days to process the applications, but Baker said his office was overwhelmed by the sharp increase in applications, and needed more than a month to simply process the backlog. “A public health emergency doesn’t suspend or nullify the right to keep and bear arms,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “During times of emergency is when a citizen needs the ability to obtain the means of self-defense, and Sheriff Baker’s decision stands directly in the way of that.”
I think gun owners are aware of and understanding of the need to modify some procedures in order to protect everyone’s health, but to simply stop accepting applications. Other sheriffs in North Carolina have adopted measures like accepting applications in the parking lot outside of the sheriff’s office, limiting visits to appointments only, and cleaning the office between visits. Baker could have done so from the outset, but he chose instead to simply close the office down to Wake County residents hoping to purchase a handgun for self-defense.