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WASHINGTON — America’s recent mass shootings have increased pressure from gun-rights advocates to pass the National Rifle Association’s top legislative priority: a bill to make it easier to carry concealed weapons across state lines, the bill’s author said Thursday.

Bipartisanship may be on life support in Washington these days, but two North Carolina congressmen were able to revive it in the ambulance.

Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat, and Rep. Richard Hudson, a Concord Republican, are heralding the passage of House Bill 304, the Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act.

Republicans lined up a vote next week in the House on making it easier for gun owners to legally carry concealed weapons across state lines, the first gun-related legislation since mass shootings in Nevada and Texas killed more than 80 people.

The bill is a top priority of the National Rifle Association, which calls it an important step to expand the right of gun owners to travel freely between states without worrying about conflicting state laws or civil suits.

Law enforcement agencies across Moore County teamed up to collect 564 pounds of medication as part of a national campaign to curtail prescription drug abuse.

Organized locally by the Moore County Sheriff’s Office, the National Take Back Initiative gives residents a chance to rid their medicine cabinets of unused or unwanted prescription drugs. Sheriff Neil Godfrey called this year’s initiative, which included events on April 29 and Oct. 28, a “huge success.”