Roxane Kolar is concerned about several bills.

The executive director of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence said the advocacy group opposes bills that would allow concealed weapons in state parks and restaurants.

"Right now, most people visit state parks because it's a safe environment," she said. "While others may feel safer having their weapons in a state park, there's a lot of others who won't."

She said the group opposes allowing guns in restaurants because "guns and alcohol don't mix." Even though most people with concealed weapons permits are responsible, she said they may not stay that way after a few drinks.

In addition, Kolar said that exempting restaurants would "take away the rights of the business owner" to decide what they want.

On the other hand, she said that the group does not have a stance on two bills that would allow district attorneys to carry concealed weapons into courthouses.

"If D.A.'s feel as a whole that this would improve their safety, then we're not going to question that," she said. 

Susan Doyle says she's faced more bias over age than gender.

The district attorney, a Republican who represents Johnston, Harnett and Lee counties, is one of only seven (out of 43) elected D.A.s in North Carolina who are women.

But she doubted there was a significant bias against women in that role.

"I think it was just a natural progression of more women beginning to go to law school and then more women being interested in jobs in criminal prosecution," she said. 

Doyle, who is 40 but looks young, said she has faced some questions from voters and other lawyers about whether she's old enough to be a D.A. 

"I frequently got comments like 'You're too young," even though I had served as an assistant district attorney for 13 years," she said. "Once people found that out, then they were OK."

Doyle said she was not too concerned when she planned her campaign.

"I didn't focus on my obstacles as a female as opposed to my obstacles as a first-time politician," she said. 

David McLennan says there aren't enough women in the pipeline.

A professor of political science at Peace College in Raleigh, McLennan has studied women running for office in North Carolina for years.

He says women have done well in races for school board, local and legislative races in urban areas, judicial positions and statewide executive offices. They haven't done well in law enforcement positions and local and legislative races in rural areas.

The problems end up dragging down overall balance, however. While 54 percent of registered voters are women, only 16 percent of the candidates on the November ballot were women, he said. 

A lack of women in lower level races also means a smaller pool for more important posts. With fewer women on rural town councils, there are fewer candidates for rural legislative seats; and fewer female district attorneys and sheriffs may be one reason no woman has run for attorney general.

Even in statewide executive races, McLennan said women's successes have been due to their support in the growing metropolitan areas.

"People in urban areas are more used to seeing women in positions of power," he said. "As the power in the state shifts to the metropolitan areas, we're going to see more women do well as a result."

Still, the lag in rural areas means it may take longer to see a gender balance in the legislature.  

Pat McCrory is not a fan of TV crime procedurals.

At a debate in Atlantic Beach today, the Republican gubernatorial nominee said that his wife is "hooked" on reruns of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "Law & Order."

"I have a very tough time watching those two shows because on 'CSI,' they have a crime lab which within minutes — or at the most even hours — they get the results back of DNA tests," he said. "In North Carolina, they're waiting month after month after month after month while cases are held up and our county prisons continue to be full."

He said that "Law & Order" prosecutors dress "as though they can afford to shop at Neiman Marcus," courts have no backlog and judges have new laptops and , while real-life attorneys have a hard time paying their bills and victims wait in packed hallways.

"In North Carolina, we have judges and DAs who are working out of cardboard boxes, as though it's the 1920s and 1930s," he said. 

He also claimed that plea bargains are becoming "non-existent" in North Carolina because defense attorneys are advising clients to plead not guilty because of a long wait for trials and a lack of jail space.

Trivia Check: Neiman Marcus has one North Carolina store — in Charlotte's pricey SouthPark Mall.