Grass Roots North Carolina GRNC
1994 founded
- Paul Valone – President
As a symbol of tenacity, GRNC has adopted “Max,” a pit bull with the Constitution clenched between his teeth. Max represents not only GRNC’s aggressive tactics, but also our promise, as a lean, all-volunteer organization, to deliver you “Max bang for your legislative buck.”
About Grass Roots North Carolina
Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC) is an all-volunteer nonprofit gun rights organization founded in 1994 and led by President F. Paul Valone. Its leaders emphasize that every officer is unpaid and that member dues fund advocacy rather than salaries. GRNC lobbies the North Carolina General Assembly, rates candidates, mobilizes members through alerts and petitions, and has used litigation to hold local officials to state firearms law, including suits with Gun Owners of America against county sheriffs over delays in processing pistol purchase permits and concealed handgun permits.
GRNC has played a role in several major North Carolina firearms laws. In 2013 the legislature passed House Bill 937, which the group described as the most sweeping gain for gun rights in state history; it allowed concealed carry in restaurants, carry at certain admission-charging events, limited carry in locked vehicles on public campuses, and hunting with suppressors, and it tightened rules on sheriffs administering pistol purchase permits. GRNC reported spending nearly $40,000 on that campaign. A decade later, in March 2023, the General Assembly overrode Governor Roy Cooper’s veto to repeal the state’s pistol purchase permit requirement, a system GRNC had long opposed. The group has since supported permitless carry legislation. For North Carolina gun owners, GRNC is one of the state’s most active advocacy groups.
Key Facts
- 1994: Grass Roots North Carolina founded
- 2013: House Bill 937 passes, expanding carry locations and reforming permit administration; GRNC spends nearly $40,000 supporting it
- 2021: Governor Cooper vetoes an earlier pistol purchase permit repeal
- March 2023: Legislature overrides veto and repeals the pistol purchase permit requirement
- 2023: GRNC and GOA back HB 189, the NC Freedom to Carry bill
Sources
- Interview with GRNC’s Andy Stevens – Libertarian Party of North Carolina
- North Carolina Takes a Leap Forward for Gun Rights – AmmoLand
- NC Gov. Cooper Vetoes Repeal of Pistol Purchase Permit Law – AmmoLand
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