The Rev. Melvin Whitley asked the Durham City Council to support his "bullet ownership bill" Thursday, and got a mixed reception.
While council member Howard Clement and Mayor Pro-Tem Cora Cole-McFadden expressed enthusiastic support, council member Eugene Brown said, "There are lot more things that we can do that might pass constitutional muster and legislative muster and do a lot more good."
For three years, Whitley has been seeking support for a bill to require a permit to purchase ammunition, and ban its sale to convicted felons, the mentally ill and some other classes of citizens.
So far, no legislator has agreed to introduce the bill. Whitley asked the Durham council to add it to the wish list it will present the Durham delegation for the present session.
"If we don't allow criminals to buy handguns, why are we allowing them to buy the bullet?" Whitley said.
The council will vote on its legislative agenda Feb. 2.
Mayor Bill Bell said he was interested in changing the existing law to issue an ammunition permit along with the permit to purchase a handgun. Presently, a firearm purchase permit must be left with the dealer.
"Seems I should be able to keep my permit and show that to get the bullets," he said.
Brown questioned whether Whitley's bill would actually decrease gun violence, and pointed out that neither North Carolinians Against Gun Violence nor the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence have Whitley's bill on their agendas.
But McFadden said Whitley's bill still deserves Durham's support.
"I understand if they want bullets they will get them with or without this bill," she said, "but I will feel more comfortable if we have done what we can do."
"We as the duly constituted representatives of city government, we have to take a stance on this proposal," he said.
Whitley had also asked for council support last fall. Opponents have deluged council members with emails since then, and at an earlier meeting Bell reminded his colleagues, "We need to be aware there are people who have other perspectives."
Brown, while emphasizing his support for reducing violence involving firearms, raised a question of practicality.
"What i'm trying to look at here is something that has some common sense here and that will pass" in the General Assembly, he said. "I don't want to engage in the politics of gesture, I want common sense.
