From the Chair
Hello North Carolina, and thank you for the honor of electing me Chair of the state party. It is my privilege to introduce myself here. I am humbled by your support. This is a responsibility that I do not take lightly, and I promise I will be tireless in my dedication, diligent in my duties, and responsive always to the needs and concerns of everyone in the LPNC.
I am hoping you all will get to know me and my plans a little better today, but first I have to mention the prior EC and the wonderful job they did. Jonathan, Sarah, Steven, Mike, Kim, and Travis, you all taught me so much over the last couple of years. I will take what I learned working with you and apply it, and I ask only that you hold me accountable, as I have always tried to do. Thank you for the time and energy you gave to the LPNC.
I want to say a special and direct thank you to Joe Garcia, our previous Chair. Joe, you have been an example, a mentor, and a friend to me in so many ways. From arguing over bylaw technicalities to coming together to support Joshua, I am deeply appreciative of all you have done over the last few years, and before, and for all the lessons I learned watching and working with you. I aim to serve the LPNC as Chair in a way that makes you proud to have passed the Liberty torch to me.
To the rest of the LPNC, and everyone reading this, I want to let you know that we are ready to get to work! I have a number of things I want to accomplish relatively quickly, building on the work of the prior EC, to position the party for success now and into the future. Early priorities will involve modernizing the website, building out a social media strategy, providing the resources needed to grow affiliates, and working with affiliates to strengthen our pipeline of candidates and give them the tools they need to run successful campaigns. The 2023 Election season is right around the corner. If you are running or know someone who would like to run, please get in touch with us. We'll be happy to support our candidates in any way we can.
This is on top of the strong progress we have made in recent years from the hard work all of you have been doing, work I hope to see continue. Our EC will remain dedicated to supporting each of you when you need, and to getting out of your way when you need. We have seen so much growth and so many successes recently. Joe covered many of them in his address to the convention on Saturday, and yet it was only a handful of the many accomplishments that the state party and so many of the affiliates have realized. I am here to help that continue.
Convention was a huge success, and I want to personally and publicly thank and commend Zac Lentz and Dee Watson for all their hard work in pulling off a successful event. We had great speakers, smooth voting, a fantastic auction, and even a gubernatorial announcement.
Finally, to Sean, Mike, Dee, Christina, Mac, Nick, and Angela, I want to say how much I look forward to working with you as we bring this party to the next level. Building on the work of those who have come before us, let’s see some tangible results, and take things to a level we only dreamed of previously.
Thank you, all of you, again for your support. I promise to spend the next two years proving your faith in me was justified.
-Ryan Brown, LPNC Chair
North Carolina State of the State Libertarian Response
Hello everyone, and thank you for taking the time to read our response. My name is Joe Garcia, and I am the Chair of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina. It is my humble honor to be addressing you, my fellow North Carolinians, in response to Governor Cooper and Lieutenant Governor Robinson's State of the State Addresses. Because of the will and work of the people of this state, North Carolina is in a better position than so many other states in our country.
But there are forces in motion that seek to weaken us; as individuals, as families, as citizens, and as a people, attacking our values and trying to impose their own, stifling your businesses, chipping away at your paycheck, and infringing on your basic right to live.
Governor Cooper spoke of prosperity on the heels of his administration's draconian covid restrictions that went far beyond what was realistically practical, crushing business, setting children back in ways we will not understand for decades, and ignoring any basic concept of rights, granted to us as humans and guaranteed by our constitution.
Governor Cooper wants to highlight economic progress while touting environmental initiatives that do nothing to protect the environment but instead enforce arbitrary and growth crushing limitations. He protects polluters from action by the people they harm, in favor of his special interest backers. The Libertarian solution removes those protections for polluters that were built into the laws by lobbyists with deep pockets who fund political campaigns.
Under our plan, those polluters would be legally accountable to you, the people who suffer from toxic emissions, who saw coal ash spills in your waterways and were told to trust the ones who spilled it to clean it up. Our solutions would empower you, who watch ecosystems destroyed in your backyard with no plan to preserve the natural beauty of our great state's mountain, rivers, plains, forests, and beaches. With a Libertarian solution, instead of relying on officials to monitor polluters when those official's campaigns are funded by those polluters, you, the people who are harmed, would be empowered to hold liable in the courts those who promulgate environmental irresponsibility.
Governor Cooper speaks of increased state investments toward education from "cradle to career," ignoring the poor and declining quality of public schools in our state, as though government interventions are the path to success. As childcare and college costs continue to increase, driven largely by the tax of hyperinflation, these investments also come with strings attached that lead to bureaucratic, top-down requirements, causing teacher burnout and producing sub-par results. Yet Governor Cooper advocates for even more government intervention, asking for gasoline to put out a fire.
In the Republican response, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson tells us that he's not a politician, he's just another average working citizen like you and me. Moments later, without irony, he tells us what teachers should be teaching. The Libertarian Party believes that you, the parents, should be the voice for your child's morals and education instead of the government. We know that you are best positioned to decide and promote what is best for your child's life and future. We advocate for real educational choice, letting parents choose the avenue that best serves their children. If we must have tax revenue fund education, then we also must eliminate any state interest or influence on what teachers teach.
Call to Action: Pistol Purchase Permit Repeal
UPDATE
On March 24th, Governor Roy Cooper vetoed SB41, which would have removed the requirement to obtain a Pistol Purchase Permit before buying a pistol.
Please be sure to contact your representatives and urge them to override Governor Cooper's veto.
Find your representatives and their contact info: https://www.ncleg.gov/findyourlegislators
You may use this script below.
Dear [Representative],
As one of your constituents, I am urging you to override Governor Cooper's veto. Governor Cooper has vetoed the expansion of rights that would repeal the Pistol Purchase Permits and allow concealed carry in churches with schools attached to them. You should resist this unilateral abuse of authority and allow the will of the people, reflected in the votes of the legislature, to prevail. Support this law and overrule the veto. The Pistol Purchase Permit was originally used as a way to prevent black North Carolinians from acquiring the means to defend themselves. In the modern era, it is used in a similar manner to prevent those of lesser financial means from acquiring the means of self-defense.
The critics are wrong that Pistol Purchase Permit repeal removes the only safeguard against private sellers ensuring criminals are not purchasing their firearms. Any FFL in the state can, and almost all do, provide background checks for private sales if the seller wishes. All the Pistol Purchase Permit currently does is raise the time and monetary commitment for North Carolinians to purchase a handgun for self-defense. All North Carolinians have the right and deserve the opportunity to decide for themselves, free of government coercion, how best to defend themselves. The repeal of the Pistol Purchase Permit is the correct step in doing so.
Respectfully,
[Your name]
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The time to take an important next step in the expansion of liberty for our firearm rights has arrived. House Bill 50 (HB50) and Senate Bill 41 (SB41) repeal the Pistol Purchase Permit scheme in North Carolina that requires North Carolinians to acquire permission from their local sheriff before they can even purchase a pistol. This permit is wholly separate from a concealed handgun permit, which is a separate permission slip from the state for you to carry a concealed handgun. Both bills have passed the Senate and House and are now going to the desk of Governor Cooper, who will almost certainly veto it. The State House has a veto-proof supermajority on this issue, but the State Senate passed the bill a few votes shy of a veto-proof supermajority. We need your help to convince our representatives to support liberty! This is a straightforward Libertarian issue, as all individuals have the right to arm themselves appropriately. Look up your legislator below and contact them to tell them to support these bills and override the almost certain Cooper veto that is coming!
Below is a letter you can send to your representative, copy and paste and change at will.
Find your representatives and their contact info: https://www.ncleg.gov/findyourlegislators
Dear [Representative],
As one of your constituents, I am urging you to support the repeal of the antiquated and outdated Pistol Purchase Permit law. In the coming days, Governor Cooper will almost certainly veto the expansion of rights that includes repealing the PPP and allowing church carry in churches with schools attached to them. You should resist this unilateral abuse of authority and allow the will of the people, reflected in the votes of the legislature, to prevail. Support this law and overrule the veto. The Pistol Purchase Permit was originally used as a way to prevent black North Carolinians from acquiring the means to defend themselves. In the modern era, it is used in a similar manner to prevent those of lesser financial means from acquiring the means of self-defense.
The critics are wrong that Pistol Purchase Permit repeal removes the only safeguard against private sellers ensuring criminals are not purchasing their firearms. Any FFL in the state can, and almost all do, provide background checks for private sales if the seller wishes. All the Pistol Purchase Permit currently does is raise the time and monetary commitment for North Carolinians to purchase a handgun for self-defense. All North Carolinians have the right and deserve the opportunity to decide for themselves, free of government coercion, how best to defend themselves. The repeal of the Pistol Purchase Permit is the correct step in doing so.
Respectfully,
[Your name]
Guns Don't Kill People, Social Media Does
---Shannon Bray, Libertarian Party U.S. Senate Candidate for North Carolina
I have something I want you to consider. After every mass shooting, people cry out for gun control. For weeks or months, gun control is all you hear and then it goes silent. There are many people who believe that the availability of weapons is why we have mass or school shootings. The thought is that if you take the guns away from everyone, these types of events would not happen. If we just pass a few more gun laws, we will save our children.
There comes a time when we need to find the core of the issues and not just slap band-aids on everything. Everything in our community has become fuel for our cancel culture; if someone does not like it, they want it gone for everyone, but that is a topic for another day. For the sake of this article, let us call the band-aid gun control and let us consider the core of the issue: social media. No doubt you already knew where I was going with this since the title states it clearly but let me make my point and offer you several references so that you can come to your own conclusion. First, I will highlight the growth of social media. Second, I will present data that will show social media links to depression and anxiety. Third, we will discuss the characteristics of people who commit these crimes. And finally, I will offer various approaches that will help mitigate these issues and explain why Congress is unable to address the problems by simply passing a bill.