Back on the Calendar: North Carolina’s SB 50 Override Gets Another Shot Monday at 10 A.M.

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RALEIGH, NC — The North Carolina House has put the SB 50 veto override back on its calendar, the next move in a fight I covered when the override vote first began looming over the chamber. The bill is still unfinished business, and the House has already walked away from this vote once.

Senate Bill 50, titled “Freedom to Carry NC,” appears on the House calendar for Monday, August 3, 2026, under unfinished business and reconsideration of a vetoed bill, with the chamber convening at 10 a.m. The bill would allow a United States citizen who is at least 18 years old to carry a concealed handgun unless prohibited by state or federal law. Anyone carrying under that authority would have to carry identification and disclose possession of the handgun when approached or addressed by a law enforcement officer.

Here is how it got this far and stalled. Gun Owners of America reported that on July 29, 2025, the North Carolina Senate voted to override Governor Josh Stein’s veto of SB 50, and that the House scheduled its own override vote for the following day. The House then adjourned just before taking it up, pulling the vote off the calendar. GOA said the vote was rescheduled for Tuesday, August 26. NRA-ILA later reported the override vote was postponed again. It has never been completed, which is exactly why the bill keeps reappearing as unfinished business.

The vote math is the whole story. According to GOA, every Republican vote in the House is essential and at least one Democrat is needed to get there. During the regular session, Republican Representatives William Brisson and Ted Davis Jr. voted against SB 50, and 10 other House Republicans were recorded as absent. An override does not fail because the opposition shows up. It fails because the majority does not.

What the bill does not do deserves as much attention as what it does. SB 50 would keep North Carolina’s concealed handgun permit system in place for residents who want a permit for reciprocity with other states, firearm purchases, or other purposes. That distinction matters more than most people realize. Some states have formal agreements to honor a North Carolina permit, and some states simply recognize it on their own without any agreement in place. Either way, the recognition attaches to the permit, not to a permitless carry law, so a North Carolina resident who drives across state lines has a plain reason to keep a permit even if the state stops requiring one. My concealed carry permit reciprocity maps are the fastest way to see how far a permit travels.

The bill also holds the existing off-limits list. Concealed carry would remain restricted in locations prohibited by federal law, in law enforcement and correctional facilities, and on private premises where the person controlling the property has posted notice prohibiting concealed weapons. The disqualifications stay too, covering felony indictments and convictions, certain violent misdemeanor convictions, domestic violence offenses, fugitive status, and other legal restrictions.

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SB 50 is not a single-subject bill. It would raise certain line-of-duty death benefits from $100,000 to $150,000 and direct the University of North Carolina Board of Governors to create a scholarship program for children of qualifying public safety personnel killed or permanently disabled in the line of duty. It would also increase criminal penalties for assaults with firearms against specified law enforcement officers, correctional employees, emergency medical personnel, firefighters and telecommunicators, and create enhanced offenses for firearm possession or discharge by a felon.

The General Assembly’s calendar confirms the House convenes at 10 a.m. Monday. Whether the override actually gets called is a separate question, and this bill has been pulled from a calendar before. I will continue tracking SB 50 and any override vote that follows.