A North Carolina nonprofit organization that advocates for Second Amendment rights is trying to rally Winston-Salem residents opposed to a new city ordinance that prohibits guns in certain parts of some of the city's parks and recreation facilities.
Grass Roots North Carolina, which is based in Raleigh, issued an alert this week saying that the ordinance, which the city council passed Nov. 21, violates state law.
The alert also says the nonprofit is considering filing a lawsuit against the city, though Paul Valone, president of Grass Roots North Carolina, said he could not comment on possible litigation.
Winston-Salem's new ordinance prohibits concealed handguns in 52 of the city's 69 parks and was passed in response to a July law created by the N.C. General Assembly that allows people with concealed-carry permits to carry guns in parks.
The state law also allows local governments to pass ordinances that exempt parks with athletic facilities or playgrounds from the state law.
Winston-Salem previously had an ordinance prohibiting concealed handguns in all of the city's parks.
Valone, who said he helped write the state law permitting guns in parks, said Winston-Salem's new ordinance is "ridiculously expansive."
The ordinance prohibits concealed handguns in playgrounds, swimming pools and athletic facilities. The ordinance includes greenways and lakes as athletic fields.
Angela Carmon, Winston-Salem's city attorney, has said in public meetings that the state law did not define "athletic facilities."
The city ordinance considers greenways and lakes to be athletic facilities because people exercise on or in both.
Valone said an ordinance that includes trails and lakes is too broad.
"We passed this language in order to allow concealed-handgun permit (carriers) to protect their families in state and municipal parks," Valone said. "Gun-free zones — be they campuses, be they parks or anywhere else actually — attract violent predators because the predator knows this is the one place he's not going to encounter an armed victim."
Grass Roots North Carolina is hoping to find people who live in Winston-Salem who are opposed to the new city ordinance to sign on as plaintiffs in a possible lawsuit against the city.
For more information, visit grnc.org.
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