GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
H 2
HOUSE BILL 28
Committee Substitute Favorable 3/11/25
Short Title: Gun Violence Prevention Act. (Public)
Sponsors:
Referred to:
February 3, 2025
*H28-v-2*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO CREATE THE OFFENSES OF POSSESS ING, BRANDISHING, OR 2
DISCHARGING A FIREARM OR WEAPON OF MASS DEATH AND DESTRUCTIO N 3
BY A FELON DURING TH E COMMISSION OR ATTE MPTED COMMISSION OF A 4
FELONY. 5
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 6
SECTION 1. G.S. 14-415.1 reads as rewritten: 7
"ยง 14-415.1. Possession of firearms, etc., by felon prohibited. 8
(a) It shall be is unlawful for any person who has been convicted of a felony to purchase, 9
own, possess, or have in his the person's custody, care, or control any firearm or any weapon of 10
mass death and destruction as defined in G.S. 14-288.8(c). For the purposes of this section, a 11
firearm is (i) any weapon, including a starter gun, which will or is designed to or may readily be 12
converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive, or its frame or receiver, or (ii) any 13
firearm muffler or firearm silencer. This section does not apply to an antique firearm, as defined 14
in G.S. 14-409.11. 15
Every person violating the provisions of this section shall be punished as subsection is guilty 16
of a Class G felon.felony. 17
(a1) A person who violates subsection (a) of this section during the commission or 18
attempted commission of a felony under (i) this Chapter or (ii) Article 5 of Chapter 90 of the 19
General Statutes is guilty of a Class F felony. 20
(a2) A person who violates subsection (a) of this section and brandishes a firearm or a 21
weapon of mass death and destruction during the commission or attempted commission of a 22
felony under (i) this Chapter or (ii) Article 5 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes is guilty of a 23
Class D felony. For the purposes of this subsection, to brandish is to display all or part of the 24
firearm or weapon of mass death and destruction or otherwise make the presence of the firearm 25
or weapon of mass death and destruction known to another person. 26
(a3) A person who violates subsection (a) of this section and discharges a firearm or a 27
weapon of mass death and destruction during the commission or attempted commission of a 28
felony under (i) this Chapter or (ii) Article 5 of Chapter 90 of the General Statutes is guilty of a 29
Class C felony. 30
(b) Prior convictions which cause disentitlement under this section shall only include: 31
(1) Felony convictions in North Carolina that occur before, on, or after December 32
1, 1995; and 33
(2) Repealed by Session Laws 1995, c. 487, s. 3, effective December 1, 1995. 34
(3) Violations of criminal laws of other states or of the United States that occur 35
before, on, or after December 1, 1995, and that are substantially similar to the 36 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 House Bill 28-Second Edition
crimes covered in subdivision (1) which are punishable where committed by 1
imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. 2
When a person is charged under this section, records of prior convictions of any offense, whether 3
in the courts of this State, or in the courts of any other state or of the United States, shall be 4
admissible in evidence for the purpose of proving a violation of this section. The term 5
"conviction" is defined as a final judgment in any case in which felony punishment, or 6
imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, as the case may be, is authorized, without regard to 7
the plea entered or to the sentence imposed. A judgment of a conviction of the defendant or a 8
plea of guilty by the defendant to such an offense certified to a superior court of this State from 9
the custodian of records of any state or federal court shall be prima facie evidence of the facts so 10
certified. 11
(c) The indictment charging the defendant under the terms of this section shall be separate 12
from any indictment charging him with other offenses related to or giving rise to a charge under 13
this section. An indictment which charges the person with violation of this section must set forth 14
the date that the prior offense was committed, the type of offense and the penalty therefor, and 15
the date that the defendant was convicted or plead guilty to such offense, the identity of the court 16
in which the conviction or plea of guilty took place and the verdict and judgment rendered 17
therein. 18
(d) This section does not apply to a person who, pursuant to the law of the jurisdiction in 19
which the conviction occurred, has been pardoned or has had his or her firearms rights restored 20
if such restoration of rights could also be granted under North Carolina law. 21
(e) This section does not apply and there is no disentitlement under this section if the 22
felony conviction is a violation under the laws of North Carolina, another state, or the United 23
States that pertains to antitrust violations, unfair trade practices, or restraints of trade." 24
SECTION 2. This act becomes effective December 1, 2025, and applies to offenses 25
committed on or after that date. 26