A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to amend requirements for the storage of firearms to protect minors, to encourage unloaded storage of firearms, and to provide notice of safe storage requirements.
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.  G.S. 14‑315.2(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	Any retail or wholesale store, shop, or sales outlet that sells firearms shall conspicuously post at each purchase counter the following warning in block letters not less than one inch in height the phrase:  "IT IS UNLAWFUL TO STORE OR LEAVE A FIREARM THAT CAN BE DISCHARGED IN A MANNER THAT A REASONABLE PERSON SHOULD KNOW IS ACCESSIBLE TO A MINOR.  IF YOU KEEP A LOADED FIREARM WITHIN ANY PREMISES UNDER YOUR CUSTODY OR CONTROL, AND A MINOR OBTAINS IT AND USES IT, RESULTING IN INJURY OR DEATH, OR CARRIES IT TO A PUBLIC PLACE, YOU MAY BE GUILTY OF A CRIMINAL OFFENSE UNLESS YOU STORED THE FIREARM IN A LOCKED CONTAINER OR LOCKED THE FIREARM WITH A LOCKING DEVICE TO KEEP IT FROM TEMPORARILY FUNCTIONING."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective December 1, 2009, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.