GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
1997 SESSION

S.L. 1997-238
HOUSE BILL 958

AN ACT TO AMEND THE CONCEALED WEAPON AND CONCEALED HANDGUN PERMIT LAWS.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1.  G.S. 14-269(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	This prohibition shall not apply to the following persons:
(1)	Officers and enlisted personnel of the armed forces of the United States when in discharge of their official duties as such and acting under orders requiring them to carry arms and weapons;
(2)	Civil and law enforcement officers of the United States while in the discharge of their official duties;
(3)	Officers and soldiers of the militia and the national guard when called into actual service;
(4)	Officers of the State, or of any county, city, or town, charged with the execution of the laws of the State, when acting in the discharge of their official duties;
(5)	Sworn law-enforcement officers, when off-duty, if:
a.	Written regulations authorizing the carrying of concealed weapons have been filed with the clerk of superior court in the county where the law-enforcement unit is located by the sheriff or chief of police or other superior officer in charge; and
b.	Such regulations specifically prohibit the carrying of concealed weapons while the officer is consuming or under the influence of alcoholic beverages."
Section 2.  G.S. 14-269.2(g) reads as rewritten:
"(g)	This section shall not apply to:
(1)	A weapon used solely for educational or school-sanctioned ceremonial purposes, or used in a school-approved program conducted under the supervision of an adult whose supervision has been approved by the school authority;
(1a)	A person exempted by the provisions of G.S. 14-269(b);
(2)	Firefighters, emergency service personnel, North Carolina Forest Service personnel, and any private police employed by an educational institution, when acting in the discharge of their official duties; or
(3)	Home schools as defined in G.S. 115C-563(a)."
Section 3.  G.S. 14-269.4 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14-269.4.  Weapons on State property and in courthouses.
It shall be unlawful for any person to possess, or carry, whether openly or concealed, any deadly weapon, not used solely for instructional or officially sanctioned ceremonial purposes in the State Capitol Building, the Executive Mansion, the Western Residence of the Governor, or on the grounds of any of these buildings, and in any building housing any court of the General Court of Justice.  If a court is housed in a building containing nonpublic uses in addition to the court, then this prohibition shall apply only to that portion of the building used for court purposes while the building is being used for court purposes.
This section shall not apply to:
	(1a)	A person exempted by the provisions of G.S. 14-269(b),
			(4a)	Any person in a building housing a court of the General Court of Justice in possession of a weapon for evidentiary purposes, to deliver it to a law-enforcement agency, or for purposes of registration,
(5)	State-owned rest areas, rest stops along the highways, and State-owned hunting and fishing reservations.
Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor."
Section 4.  G.S. 14-277.2(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	The provisions of this section shall not apply to a person exempted by the provisions of G.S. 14-269(b) or to persons authorized by State or federal law to carry dangerous weapons in the performance of their duties or to any person who obtains a permit to carry a dangerous weapon at a parade, funeral procession, picket line, or demonstration from the sheriff or police chief, whichever is appropriate, of the locality where such parade, funeral procession, picket line, or demonstration is to take place."
Section 5.  G.S. 14-415.22 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14-415.22.  Construction of Article.
This Article shall not be construed to require a person who may carry a concealed handgun under the provisions of G.S. 14-269(b) to obtain a concealed handgun permit.  The provisions of this Article shall not apply to a person who may lawfully carry a concealed weapon or handgun pursuant to G.S. 14-269(b).  A person who may lawfully carry a concealed weapon or handgun pursuant to G.S. 14-269(b) shall not be prohibited from carrying the concealed weapon or handgun on property on which a notice is posted prohibiting the carrying of a concealed handgun, unless otherwise prohibited by statute."
Section 6.  G.S. 14-415.11(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	A permit does not authorize a person to carry a concealed handgun in the areas prohibited by G.S. 14-269.2, 14-269.3, 14-269.4, and 14-277.2, in an area prohibited by rule adopted under G.S. 120-32.1, in any area prohibited by 18 U.S.C. § 922 or any other federal law, in a law enforcement or correctional facility, in a building housing only State or federal offices, in an office of the State or federal government that is not located in a building exclusively occupied by the State or federal government, a financial institution, or on any other premises, except state-owned rest areas or state-owned rest stops along the highways, where notice that carrying a concealed handgun is prohibited by the posting of a conspicuous notice or statement by the person in legal possession or control of the premises. It shall be unlawful for a person, with or without a permit, to carry a concealed handgun while consuming alcohol or at any time while the person has remaining in his body any alcohol or in his blood a controlled substance previously consumed, but a person does not violate this condition if a controlled substance in his blood was lawfully obtained and taken in therapeutically appropriate amounts."
Section 7.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 16th day of June, 1997.
s/	Dennis A. Wicker
President of the Senate

s/	Harold J. Brubaker
Speaker of the House of Representatives

s/	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor

Approved 4:15 p.m. this 27th day of June, 1997