A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to provide stricter requirements for the storage of firearms to protect minors.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 14‑315.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14‑315.1.  Storage of firearms to protect minors.
(a)	Any person who stores or leaves a firearm  in a manner that the person knew or should have known that an unsupervised minor would be able to gain access to the firearm, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor if a minor gains access to the firearm without the lawful permission of the minor's parents or a person having charge of the minor and the minor:
(1)	Possesses it in violation of G.S. 14‑269.2(b); or
(2)	Exhibits it in a public place.
		
(a1)	Any person who stores or leaves a firearm in a manner in which the person knew or should have known that a minor would be able to gain access to the firearm is guilty of a Class A1 misdemeanor if a minor gains access to the firearm without the lawful permission of the minor's parents or a person having charge of the minor and the minor:
(1)	Uses the firearm to cause personal injury or death, not in self‑defense; or
(2)	Uses the firearm in the commission of a crime.
(a2)	Subsections (a) and (a1) of this section shall not apply if:
(1)	The firearm is kept unloaded in a locked box or container, with the ammunition stored separately; or
(2)	The firearm is kept unloaded and equipped with a tamper‑resistant mechanical lock or other safety device properly engaged so as to render the weapon inoperable by any person other than the owner or other lawfully authorized user.(b)	Nothing in this section shall prohibit a person from carrying a firearm on his or her body, or placed in such close proximity that it can be used as easily and quickly as if carried on the body.
(c)	This section shall not apply if the minor obtained the firearm as a result of an unlawful entry by any person.
(d)	"Minor" as used in this section means a person under 18 years of age who is not emancipated."
SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2009, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.