GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1995

S	2 

SENATE BILL 865
House Committee Substitute Favorable 6/19/95

Short Title:  Comply With Brady Bill.	(Public)

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Sponsors:

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Referred to:  

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April 26, 1995

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO AMEND THE STATE LAWS REGARDING THE PURCHASE OF A HANDGUN TO CONFORM TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE "BRADY HANDGUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION ACT".
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 14-403 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14-403.  Permit issued by sheriff; form of permit; expiration of permit.
The sheriffs of any and all counties of this State shall issue to any person, firm, or corporation in any county a license or permit to purchase or receive any weapon mentioned in this Article from any person, firm, or corporation offering to sell or dispose of the weapon.  The license or permit shall expire five years from the date of issuance.  The license or permit shall be in the following form:
North Carolina,
.............. County.
I, .........., Sheriff of said County, do hereby certify that I have conducted a criminal background check of the applicant,  ...... whose place of residence is ..........in ..........(or)	in....Township, ......... County, North Carolina, and have received no information to indicate that it would be a violation of State or federal law for the applicant to purchase, transfer, receive, or possess a handgun.  The applicant has further satisfied me as to his, her (or) their good moral character.  Therefore, a license or permit is issued to..........to purchase one pistol from any person, firm or corporation authorized to dispose of the same.
This license or permit expires five years from its date of issuance.
This ......day of ......., 19 .....
                                	.........................
                                             Sheriff."
Sec. 2.  G.S. 14-404 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14-404.  Issuance or refusal of permit; appeal from refusal; grounds for refusal; sheriff's fee.
(a)	Upon application, the sheriff shall issue the license or permit to a resident of that county unless the purpose of the permit is for collecting, in which case a sheriff can issue a permit to a nonresident when the sheriff has done all of the following:
(1)	Verified by a criminal history background investigation that it is not a violation of State or federal law for the applicant to purchase, transfer, receive, or possess a handgun.  The sheriff shall determine the criminal history of any applicant by accessing computerized criminal history records as maintained by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, by conducting a national criminal history records check, and by conducting a criminal history check through the Administrative Office of the Courts.
(2)	Fully satisfied himself or herself by affidavits, oral evidence, or otherwise, as to the good moral character of the applicant.
(3)	Fully satisfied himself or herself that the applicant  desires the possession of the weapon mentioned for (i) the protection of the home, business, person, family or property, (ii) target shooting, (iii) collecting, or (iv) hunting.
(b)	If the sheriff is not fully satisfied, the sheriff may, for good cause shown, decline to issue the license or permit and shall provide to the applicant within seven days of the refusal a written statement of the reason(s) for the refusal. An appeal from the refusal shall lie by way of petition to the chief judge of the district court for the district in which the application was filed. The determination by the court, on appeal, shall be upon the facts, the law, and the reasonableness of the sheriff's refusal, and shall be final.
(c)	A permit may not be issued to the following persons:
(1)	One who is under an indictment or information for or has been convicted in any state, or in any court of the United States, of a felony  (other than an offense pertaining to antitrust violations, unfair trade practices, or restraints of trade).  However, a person who has been convicted of a felony in a court of any state or in a court of the United States and who is later pardoned may obtain a permit, if the purchase or receipt of a pistol or crossbow permitted in this Article does not violate a condition of the pardon.
(2)	One who is a fugitive from justice.
(3)	One who is an unlawful user of or addicted to marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, or narcotic drug (as defined in 21 U.S.C. section 802).
(4)	One who has been adjudicated mentally incompetent or has been committed to any mental institution.
(5)	One who is an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States.
(6)	One who has been discharged from the armed forces under dishonorable conditions.
(7)	One who, having been a citizen of the United States, has renounced his or her citizenship.
(8)	One who is subject to a court order that:
a.	Was issued after a hearing of which the person received actual notice, and at which the person had an opportunity to participate;
b.	Restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of the person or child of the intimate partner of the person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child; and
c.	Includes a finding that the person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of the intimate partner or child; or by its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury.
(d)	Nothing in this Article shall apply to officers authorized by law to carry firearms if the officers identify themselves to the vendor or donor as being officers authorized by law to carry firearms and state that the purpose for the purchase of the firearms is directly related to the law officers' official duties.
(e)	The sheriff shall charge for the sheriff's services upon issuing the license or permit a fee of five dollars ($5.00).
(f)	Each applicant for a license or permit shall be informed by the sheriff within 30 days of the date of the application whether the license or permit will be granted or denied and, if granted, the license or permit shall be immediately issued to the applicant."
Sec. 3.  G.S. 14-415.1 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14-415.1.  Possession of firearms, etc., by felon prohibited.
(a)	It shall be unlawful for any person who has been convicted of a felony to purchase, own, possess, or have in his custody, care, or control any handgun or other firearm with a barrel length of less than 18 inches or an overall length of less than 26 inches, or any weapon of mass death and destruction as defined in G.S. 14-288.8(c).
Every person violating the provisions of this section shall be punished as a Class H felon.
Nothing in this subsection would prohibit the right of any person to have possession of a firearm within his own home or on his lawful place of business.
(a1)	After a period of five years from the date of conviction, or the unconditional discharge from a correctional institution, or termination of a suspended sentence, probation, or parole upon conviction, whichever is later, a person subject to the provisions of subsection (a) may petition the superior court in the jurisdiction in which the person resides for a permit to purchase, own, possess, or control a firearm, other than a handgun or a weapon of mass death and destruction, the person's residence.  The court may, for good cause shown, grant the petition and issue a permit.
(b)	Prior convictions which cause disentitlement under this section shall only include:
(1)	Felony convictions in North Carolina that occur before, on, or after December 1, 1995; and
	(3)	Violations of criminal laws of other states or of the United States that occur before, on, or after December 1, 1995, and that are substantially similar to the crimes covered in subdivision (1) which are punishable where committed by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.
When a person is charged under this section, records of prior convictions of any offense, whether in the courts of this State, or in the courts of any other state or of the United States, shall be admissible in evidence for the purpose of proving a violation of this section.  The term 'conviction' is defined as a final judgment in any case in which felony punishment, or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year, as the case may be, is permissible, without regard to the plea entered or to the sentence imposed.  A judgment of a conviction or a plea of guilty to such an offense certified to a superior court of this State from the custodian of records of any state or federal court under the same name as that by which the defendant is charged shall be prima facie evidence that the identity of such person is the same as the defendant so charged and shall be prima facie evidence of the facts so certified.
(c)	The indictment charging the defendant under the terms of this section shall be separate from any indictment charging him with other offenses related to or giving rise to a charge under this section.  An indictment which charges the person with violation of this section must set forth the date that the prior offense was committed, the type of offense and the penalty therefor, and the date that the defendant was convicted or plead guilty to such offense, the identity of the court in which the conviction or plea of guilty took place and the verdict and judgment rendered therein."
Sec. 4.  Article 53 of Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is repealed.
Sec. 5.  This act becomes effective December 1, 1995,  and applies to permits or licenses applied for on or after that date.  This act shall expire if the instant criminal history records check system as set out in House Bill 919 (Second Edition), 1995 Regular Session, is enacted and is implemented by the General Assembly.