The N.C. Republican Party is pushing vote-by-mail.

In a mailer sent to North Carolina voters, the state party argues that "Second Amendment Rights" are in danger from Democratic candidates.

"Democrats don't stand with gun owners," it says. "Democrats have changed their tune but not their agenda. Anti-gun activists are working harder than ever this year to push their agenda on law-abiding Americans."

The mailer come with two preprinted postcards to sign up for absentee voting. The cards must be received by the last Tuesday before the election.

Barack Obama is going after John McCain on the radio in North Carolina.

Under the Dome readers report hearing Obama ads on country stations (WQDR 94.7 and The Rooster 106.1 in Raleigh, WSOC-FM 103.7 in Charlotte, 93.1 FM The Wolf, 104.1 WTQR in Winston-Salem and WMNC The Big Dawg in Morganton), rock stations (Mix 101.5 in Raleigh) classic R&B stations (Foxy 104.3 in Raleigh), sports radio (850 AM The Buzz in the Triangle), conservative talk radio (WPTF 680 AM in Raleigh, 101.1 FM Talk in the Triad), urban radio (K97.5 in Raleigh, Power 98 and 96.1 The Beat in Charlotte).

Readers reported hearing two ads in particular.

One features former Washington Redskin Ray Schoenke, who leads the American Hunters & Shooters Association, a Democratic-leaning gun owners group.

"Barack Obama and John McCain will both make sure we keep our guns," he says in the ad. "But what about keeping our jobs?"

Another ad describes a lavish Ferris wheel being built in Baghdad.

"John McCain wants America to keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq when we should be rebuilding America," the narrator says.

Readers also describe an ad encouraging people to register to vote. Pollster Tom Jensen reports hearing ads attacking McCain on gender pay equity as well.

A bill by U.S. Sen. Richard Burr would prevent veterans from being declared mentally unfit to own a gun.

Since the Virginia Tech shootings last year, Congress and several states have sought to tighten rules on who can legally buy a gun, but Burr's bill would prevent the federal veterans agency from declaring veterans "mentally defective" on its own.

Instead, judges, magistrates or other judicial authorities would have to do it.

Burr said that some veterans were added to the list not because they were a risk but because the Department of Veterans Affairs assigned them guardians to oversee their finances.

"This is a constitutional issue," he said. The database is for criminals, "not for folks who have trouble handling their own affairs."

The National Rifle Association and several veterans groups back Burr, but gun control-organizations argue that veterans have higher rates of suicide than non-veterans and might be more at risk. (N&O) 

Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger gave the session low grades.

The Eden Republican said he was still frustrated by the Democratic majority's use of the rules to have its way. His grades:

Legislative Process: D-. Berger said that bills were "pretty much decided" before they reached the Senate floor, and the 2008 budget was "written behind closed doors."

"It's pretty much the same way it's been in other years," he said.

The Budget: D or F-. Berger said the budget did not take into account the troubled economy or financial problems with the State Health Plan. On the other hand, he was happy to see that less money was transferred from the Highway Trust Fund to the general fund.

On the plus side, he praised a pilot project for incentive pay at some school systems as well as the final wording of a bill that would keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill, which he helped write. 

"I think we ended up with language that respected the Second Amendment and addressed problems evident from the Virginia Tech shootings," he said.  

Legislation that would help keep guns away from those so mentally ill that they are considered to be a danger to themselves or others is on its way to Gov. Mike Easley for his signature.

The House today joined the Senate in unanimously approving the legislation, which requires court clerks to report to a national data base those who have been involuntarily committed by a judge to inpatient or outpatient treatment and determined to be "a danger to self or others," Dan Kane reports.

Attorney General Roy Cooper sought the legislation after an examination of the state's laws in the wake of the mass shootings at Virginia Tech last year that killed 32 students and faculty.

The gunman, student Seung-Hui Cho, had been involuntarily committed to outpatient treatment by a court order. But he was not listed on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, so he could purchase handguns. He killed himself after the shootings.

The review found a loophole in the law in that it did not require those who had been involuntarily committed from being reported to the data base, which is used to prevent gun purchases by individuals.

The legislation also creates a process for those who have been placed on the list to be later removed if found not to be a threat.

The state Senate unanimously voted today to require those involuntarily committed and found to be a danger to themselves and others to be reported to a national database that prevents them from purchasing guns.

The legislation was changed substantially before the 49-0 vote. Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger successfully amended the legislation to prevent those who were involuntarily committed to outpatient treatment, but not deemed a threat, from being placed on the list, Dan Kane reports.

That amendment drew fiery debate in the Senate, as opponents argued that those involuntarily committed either to inpatient or outpatient care, are by definition a potential danger to others. The amendment passed by a 30-19 vote.

The legislation sprang from the shootings at Virginia Tech where a lone gunman opened fire April 16, 2007, and killed 32 students and faculty before killing himself.

That student, Seung-Hui Cho, had been involuntarily committed to outpatient treatment by a court order. But he was not listed on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, so he could purchase handguns.

The legislation now moves to the House.

A Senate judiciary committee approved legislation today that could prevent those involuntarily committed with serious mental illness from purchasing or possessing guns.

"People with severe mental illnesses should not be able to purchase a gun — it's as simple as that— and this is a process to accomplish that," said N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper.

The legislation, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand of Fayetteville, comes after a student at Virginia Tech opened fire on April 16, 2007, and killed 32 students and faculty before killing himself, Dan Kane reports.

That student, Seung-Hui Cho, had been involuntarily committed to outpatient treatment by a court order, but he escaped being listed on the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, thereby allowing him to purchase handguns.

The shootings exposed what Cooper said is a big loophole in North Carolina law. State courts are not required to notify the national registry of involuntary commitment orders.

More after the jump.

   Comments (0)

 Attorney General Roy Cooper reiterated his call today for a law that would keep guns out of the hands of people who have been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility.

 On Thursday, a state Senate committee will have a hearing on a bill that would require court clerks to enter mental health commitments into a national database used for background checks for gun permits. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Tony Rand, a Democrat from Fayetteville.

 The bill is a response to the Virginia Tech massacre last year, when a mentally ill student who had been involuntarily committed bought two handguns for his shooting spree that killed 32 students and professors.

 Cooper's recommendation for the new law came earlier this year after a statewide task force he convened issued its report.

 "We owe it to our parents and students to keep campuses safe," Cooper said in a news release.

Rep. Robin Hayes won a Congressional shootout — for real.

The Concord Republican was one of a group of a number of Republican and Democratic Congressmen who competed in an annual shooting contest on May 13 sponsored by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation.

According to a press release from the group, Hayes triumphed as the 2008 individual Congressional Top Gun, while Republicans overall emerged as winners.

Individual contests were also held in shooting skeet, trap and clay.

The shootout was presented by ATK and the National Rifle Association and hosted by Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's and Wal-Mart.

Richard Moore, a Democratic candidate for governor, has sent out a mailer about Beverly Perdue's record on gun legislation, reports Ben Niolet.

What the ad says: "Perdue chose the gun industry over our kids … in the wake of increased gun homicides among teenagers in North Carolina, a reasonable law to get parents to keep their guns locked up passed the NC House and went to the NC Senate. A similar law in Florida had already led to a decrease in accidental gun deaths. That’s when Bev Perdue chose the gun lobby over safer homes and schools."

"Law enforcement said Perdue “gut the bill.” Newspapers said Perdue “failed her constituents and all North Carolinians miserably” and her “strings seemed to be pulled by the NRA.”

‘"Not just selling out to the gun lobby, Bev Perdue has let us down before: Perdue was 1 of only 2 Democrats to vote against a law to make it easier to investigate hate groups like the KKK, a law supported by the entire black legislative caucus. Is Bev Perdue a Democrat we can trust?

"Instead of keeping guns out of the hands of kids, Bev Perdue gave the gun lobby a hand.’

What the ad looks like: The glossy mailer features a photograph of a smiling Perdue and a revolver sticking out of a book bag. The mailer also makes liberal use of quotations from newspaper stories and editorials.

The background: In 1993, the state legislature considered a bill that would toughen penalties for bringing a gun to school and require parents to keep guns under lock and key. The bill came after shootings in Raleigh, including the killings of a high school student and a city sanitation employee. A similar law in Florida cut accidental firearms deaths in minors, according to an advocacy group that supported the 1993 bill.

The National Rifle Association opposed the locked-gun provision. Perdue, then a state senator, consulted with NRA lobbyists and offered an amendment to replace the locked storage requirement with a provision that made it a crime for gun owners to have “reckless possession of firearms.”

The law that ultimately passed made it a crime for a gun owner to allow a child to get hold of a gun and use it unlawfully. Perdue voted for the law.

Editorials in The News & Observer, The Charlotte Observer and The News & Record of Greensboro supported the locked storage provision and criticized Perdue’s amendment, as did law enforcement officials such as then-Orange County District Attorney Carl Fox.

Perdue said at the time that she took the safe-storage provision out of the bill to improve the rest of the bill’s chances of becoming law.

The text about the hate groups refers to a vote in 1987 Perdue cast against a bill that made it easier for the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate hate groups. The bill had overwhelming support. Perdue has said she does not remember the vote and thinks, on the basis of the other votes she has taken, that it must have been a mistake.

Is the ad accurate? Yes.