ORD-2012-003 Amendment to Orange County Code of Ordinances Regarding Weapons

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g: Amendment to Orange County Code of Ordinances Regarding Weapons The Board considered amending the Orange County Code of Ordinances to prohibit the carrying of concealed weapons on certain Orange County property and authorizing the Chair to sign. John Roberts said that last year the General Assembly mandated concealed carry of firearms legislation to authorize people with lawful permits to carry those firearms in a concealed manner within parks, including any recreational facilities, whether those parks are owns privately or publicly. This authorizes local governments to restrict the carrying of concealed weapons within recreational facilities. Recreational facilities are defined as: playgrounds, athletic fields, swimming pools, or athletic facilities owned, leased, or operated by counties or cities. One of the comments at the public hearing was that there are remote areas in Little River Park and this amendment authorizes people to carry a concealed firearm through a recreational facility if it is necessary to access those remote trails within Little River Park. However, it does prohibit the carrying of concealed weapons or non-concealed weapons in Cedar Grove Park, Central Recreation Center, Efland-Cheeks Park and Community Center, Eurosport Soccer Center, Fairview Park, Little River Regional Park and Natural Area with the exception of the areas specifically mentioned, Orange County Sportsplex, and River Market and Public Market House. Regarding adding in future parks, he said that he would leave this up to the Board. PUBLIC COMMENT: Chris Weaver said that when they started this process the Board of County Commissioners was going to invite the public to participate in this discussion, but this did not happen. He said that this is a failure to communicate with the public on matters such as this. He said that the County is trying to create "gun-free zones". There have been a couple of instances in the last couple of weeks. A lady was murdered in a gun-free zone. He said that anyone in the gun-free zones would be fair bait because people that have lawfully obtained firearms would not be able to carry them in these areas. He said that criminals do not care about the law so it does not make anyone safer. He said that he has been in contact with the Sheriff's Department every day and there has not been a single incident where a lawfully permitted citizen has used their gun to commit a crime. Don O'Leary said that the U. S. Constitution is the law of the land. He said that this rips the constitution to pieces. Commissioner Jacobs said that he had also brought up the issue to the County Attorney that Twin Creeks Park has a greenway. He wants to have the County Attorney's opinion on record. John Roberts said that other entities have attempted to add greenways and other areas that are not specifically defined by State statute, and they have been put on notice that they will be sued over that. A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Hemminger to approve the Resolution of Amendment, eliminating exception #8 on page 3 of the abstract. Commissioner Jacobs said that most of the trails in Little River Park are in Durham County and Orange County should not be making decisions on what happens in a joint park. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he was disappointed that the public was not given the opportunity to weigh in on this. He said that he does not want to remove#8. John Roberts said that#8 would not apply to Durham County, but only people crossing through a recreational facility to access remote areas. Commissioner McKee echoed Commissioner Yuhasz's statements about transparency of this issue. He said that item 8 acknowledged reality that there are remote trails in these