GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

1987 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 820

HOUSE BILL 124

 

AN ACT TO PROHIBIT WEAPONS IN COURTHOUSES.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  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 JusticeIf 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:

(1)       Officers and enlisted personnel of the armed forces when in the discharge of their official duties as such and acting under orders requiring them to carry arms and weapons,

(2)       Civil officers of the United States while in the discharge of their official duties,

(3)       Officers and soldiers of the militia and the State guard when on duty or called into service,

(4)       Officers or employees of the State, or any county, city, or town charged with the execution of the laws of the State, when acting in the discharge of their official duties if authorized by law to carry weapons,

(4a)     Any person in a building housing a court of the General Court of Justice in possession of a weapon for evidenciary 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 misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished in the discretion of the court by fine or imprisonment or by both such fine and imprisonment."

Sec. 2.  This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 13th day of August, 1987.