Under assault from critics that included the National Rifle Association, Pasquotank County officials have decided to change a building sign that requires gun permit seekers and sex offenders to register at the same window.

Pasquotank County Manager Randy Cartwright said his office has received 17 complaints from citizens from as far away as Ohio since The Daily Advance published a story Jan. 28 about the sign in the lobby of the county's Public Safety Building. The sign, which reads "Gun permits/Sex offender registration," will be changed, he said.

FILE PHOTO (ENLARGE)

Pasquotank County officials have decided to change this sign in the Public Safety Building, shown here June 27, 2007, following complaints from gun-permit seekers who said it made them feel embarrassed to stand in the same line as sex offenders.

"Sheriff (Randy) Cartwright and I agree that the sign is misleading and we will develop a sign that is more appropriate," Keaton said Monday. "There was no malicious intent toward gun owners and no attempt to embarrass people who are seeking gun permits."

The controversy was triggered by a letter to the newspaper by Pasquotank County gun owner Bob Halbert, who said he was humiliated when he got in line to buy a gun permit and noticed the sign.

"I feel they're putting me or a person coming in for a gun permit in the same category as sex offenders," Halbert, a retired Navy officer, said. "If someone comes by who knows you and sees you, all it takes is one bad rumor and, bam."

Cartwright and Keaton said Halbert's complaint was the first they'd received since the new Public Safety Building opened in June 2007. Keaton also said there was a logical reason for putting the sign up.

"We did not want to have a sign that listed every service that was available from the sheriff's department since it would have been extremely large," Keaton said. "The two most frequently requested services happen to be gun permits and sex offender registration.

"Sex offenders have to notify the sheriff's department any time their information changes, thus the frequency. It is not because we have a higher-than-normal number of sex offenders. In our efforts to provide directions, the two services were lumped together on one sign."

Keaton also said because the sheriff's administrative staff isn't large, there is usually only one employee at the window during business hours.

So most citizens seeking services from the sheriff's office stand in the same line anyway, he said. That line also isn't usually long, he added.

But the sign has brought a volley of criticism.

Another retired naval officer who complained, Frank Gates of Camden, agreed with Halbert.

"If any of my friends, acquaintances or other neighbors had seen me there at the public service building in line and only glanced at the 'sex offender registration' part of the sign, they would wonder if or perhaps mention in casual conversation that I was seen at the 'sex offender' registration window on such and such a day," he said. "I could just imagine my personal embarrassment if someone mentioned that sighting at the next meeting with fellow members at the VFW Post I belong to."

The National Rifle Association also got wind of the sign, and in a Feb. 1 editorial shot back at Pasquotank County, denouncing the sign and labeling it the gun rights group's "Outrage of the Week."

"Did they ever consider having two lines?" the editorial asked. "Forcing law-abiding citizens to wait alongside sex offenders in order to exercise a constitutionally protected right is not only shameful; it's outrageous."

Keaton said he and Cartwright will develop a new sign to end the confusion.

"If the sheriff or I had been contacted directly, we could have resolved the complaint directly," he said.

Meanwhile, Gates offered a solution.

"Change the sign to read 'Gun Permits" or "Permits and Registration" and post another sign at the front entrance that might say, 'Sex Offender Registration – See Receptionist' or 'Go to Permits and Registration Window,'" he said.