North Carolina Stops Issuing Confederate Flag License Plates

North Carolina will no longer issue new license plates bearing the Confederate flag and will stop renewing plates that already have the symbol, the state’s department of motor vehicles said.

“The Division of Motor Vehicles has determined that license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag have the potential to offend those who view them,” the agency said in a statement, according to the Wilmington StarNews. “We have therefore concluded that display of the Confederate battle flag is inappropriate for display on specialty license plates, which remain property of the state.”

Drivers were previously allowed to include a Confederate flag icon and the words “Sons of Confederate Veterans” to the license plate that features the words “First in Flight” and an illustration of the Wright Brothers’ famous flight at Kitty Hawk.

The agency added that the change went into effect on Jan. 1.

The North Carolina chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a pro-Confederacy organization started by Civil War veterans in 1896, said it plans a legal challenge to the DMV’s new rule.

The transportation agency said it would be open to the organization submitting a new design for specialty plates, but until then will “either issue SCV members standard plates and refund any specialty-plate fees paid or provide them with different specialty plates.”