North Carolina House Democrats have filed 12 gun-safety bills this session — but none have been heard in committee. Ahead of National Gun Violence Awareness Day on Friday, though, they urged Republicans to advance their legislation. 

On Tuesday, House and Senate Democrats gathered in the press room at the Legislative Building alongside the family of Emmanuel Gbedee, a Durham man who was shot to death while driving for Uber in Johnston County on Jan. 11, 2025. 

“The platforms profiting from this work owe the people making it possible a basic duty of care, and they must be held accountable when they fail to provide it,” Gbedee’s family said, in a statement read by their attorney, Imani Maatuka. 

Rep. Zack Hawkins, D-Durham, said he is working on introducing legislation in January aimed at improving safety for rideshare drivers and passengers. He said he has had conversations with Gbedee’s family, county sheriffs, and district attorneys. 

“Every driver deserves the opportunity to return home safely,” he said. “We owe it to the drivers and their families to have a serious conversation about safety, accountability, and what meaningful protections should look like moving forward.” 

It wasn’t made clear how the bill on safety for Uber drivers would connect to gun safety, but Hawkins said the full bill language would be available next session. The discussion the shifted to House Democrats’ failed efforts to advance gun-safety legislation this session. 

‘We must do better’ 

Rep. Tracy Clark, D-Guilford, said she and her colleagues have introduced 12 gun-safety bills this session, including: 

  • House Bill 166, which would authorize extreme risk protection orders, commonly known as red-flag laws; 
  • House Bill 167, which would make it a crime to leave a firearm in an unattended, unlocked motor vehicle; and 
  • House Bill 448, which would create a temporary sales tax exemption for firearm storage equipment. 

According to Clark, none of the 12 bills have received a committee hearing. 

Republicans control House committees, which determine whether bills receive hearings. 

“This should not be partisan; it should be bipartisan,” Clark said. “We’re trying to keep our communities safe.” 

Rep. Marcia Morey, D-Durham, added that House Democrats have introduced similar legislation in previous sessions with little success. 

Morey, who wore an orange shirt, a symbol of gun violence awareness and prevention, said she has attended similar events for years. 

“I’ve been wearing this shirt for nine years,” she said. “We’ve introduced dozens of bills. None of them have gone to a committee.” 

Protecting citizens over criminals 

While House Democrats are pushing gun-safety bills, House Republicans point to firearm-safety initiatives and criminal-justice measures they have supported. 

In a statement to the Carolina Journal, Demi Dowdy, a spokesperson for Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, said House Republicans are focused on protecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding gun owners while supporting North Carolina’s Safe Storage Law, funding and promoting the NC S.A.F.E. initiative, distributing gun locks, expanding firearm-safety education, and working to keep guns out of the hands of children. 

Meanwhile, she said Democrats’ proposals are “going nowhere.” 

“It’s hard to take Democrats seriously on public safety when their track record shows a refusal to support legislation like Iryna’s Law that puts the safety of law-abiding citizens ahead of protecting criminals,” Dowdy said. 

Guns or criminals? 

Jon Guze, senior fellow of legal studies at the John Locke Foundation, argued policymakers should focus on enforcing existing laws against dangerous offenders rather than adopting additional firearm restrictions. 

“If Democrats want to reduce gun violence, they should demand the rigorous enforcement of existing laws that prohibit convicted felons and other potentially dangerous people from possessing firearms,” he said. 

Carolina Journal’s May 2026 poll found 11.9% of North Carolina likely voters identified crime and public safety as one of their top issue heading into the 2026 elections.