When I first moved to North Carolina, pistol-purchase permits were as confusing as directions from the locals. The moonshiner’s farmhouse burned to the ground in ’63, but instead of writing it off, it’s still the county’s main navigational aid and the source of many a folk song. I was equally lost trying to feel my way through a nearly 100-year-old law that requires a permit from the local sheriff to purchase a handgun (in addition to the NICs check), and were it not for the help of the personnel at the Hoke County Sheriff’s Office I’d still be singing the blues.
June 25, 2013