North Carolina governor signs order on firearm safety

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has signed an executive directive to have its top law enforcement agency train local law enforcement agencies on threat assessment and to improve the quality of information that the state provides for background checks for firearm purchases.

Cooper announced the changes on Monday at a school safety summit in Greensboro. He says in a news release that an inventory by the State Bureau of Investigation last year found over 284,000 instances of criminal convictions that weren’t reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The order directs the SBI to continue to identify gaps in reporting criminal convictions. It also directs the SBI to provide behavioral threat assessment training to local law enforcement agencies.

The directive also includes orders on suicide and firearms storage.