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More news from the sovereign country of North Carolina.

A gun bill filed Tuesday resurrects an attempt by former Rep. Glen Bradley that went nowhere last session. It would exempt from all federal regulations any firearm, accessory or ammunition made and kept in North Carolina.

A gun like that would have to be stamped with “Made in North Carolina.”

There’s a new twist in this year’s version, however: It says that any federal agent who tries to enforce federal firearm laws would be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Sponsors are Republican Reps. Bert Jones of Reidsville, Bryan Holloway of King, Rayne Brown of Lexington, and Chris Millis of Hampstead.

Four representatives have filed a bill to eliminate straight-party ticket voting. The legislation, House Bill 185, filed Thursday, would also establish an interesting way of listing candidates on the ballot. Currently, candidates are simply listed alphabetically within each party.

HB185 would put at the top of the ballot the party of the current governor, followed by the other parties in alphabetical order.

But when there are multiple seats up for election -- now pay attention -- "the names of the candidates of that party shall appear in alphabetical order by party beginning with the letter of the alphabet that the governor's last name begins with, then returning to the letter A after the letter Z."

Got that?

Sponsors are Republican freshmen Rep. Susan Martin of Wilson, Rep. Debra Conrad of Winston-Salem and Rep. Bob Steinburg of Edenton, and second-term Rep. Bert Jones of Reidsville, also a Republican.

A bill in the Senate by second-term Sen. Buck Newton, a Republican who represents Johnston, Nash and Wilson counties, and Sen. Thom Goolsby, a Republican from Wilmington, simply proposes to do away with straight-party voting.

State Rep. Bert Jones, a Rockingham Republican, announced Thursday he would seek the No. 2 post in the House, making it a three-way race.

Jones, 50, was first elected as an independent in 2010 and chose to caucus with Republicans. He ran for re-election this year as a Republican. He is competing for speaker pro tem against two veterans -- House GOP leader Paul "Skip" Stam and committee chairwoman Julia Howard -- but says his relative inexperience is an asset.