Use these resources to verify North Carolina firearm law against primary sources. The General Statutes are published at ncleg.gov; bill tracking is at...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Use these resources to verify North Carolina firearm law against primary sources. The General Statutes are published at ncleg.gov; bill tracking is at ncleg.gov/BillLookUp; clean section-level mirrors are at codes.findlaw.com and law.justia.com. This section is a directory, not a doctrine section. Where this guide is silent on a sub-topic and you need authority, the items below are where to go.
A reading hierarchy keeps you out of trouble. The statute is the law: ncleg.gov is the official publisher, with FindLaw and Justia as mirrors. A Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP) is required to carry a concealed handgun under G.S. 14-415.11, and it is issued by the sheriff of the applicant's county of residence under G.S. 14-415.13. County sheriffs run the actual issuance process under Article 54B of Chapter 14. The North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission publishes the course and instructor guidelines for the required training under G.S. 14-415.12(a)(4). The North Carolina Department of Justice (Attorney General) gathers and publishes the outbound reciprocity information under G.S. 14-415.24(c). Practitioner and advocacy sites give plain-English summaries; cross-check them against the statute before you rely on them.
https://www.ncleg.gov/. Authoritative publisher of the General Statutes and session laws. Chapter 14 (Criminal Law) index at https://www.ncleg.gov/Laws/GeneralStatuteSections/Chapter14; Article 54B (CHP, G.S. 14-415.10 through 14-415.27) lives under that chapter.https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp. Live bill tracking by session and bill number. Use this to verify whether any pending bill (for example a permitless-carry proposal in the current session) has become law. Bill status changes; confirm directly before relying on this guide for permitless-carry questions.https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/. Enacted session law texts. S.L. 2023-8 (Senate Bill 41) is at https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/SessionLaws/HTML/2023-2024/SL2023-8.html; it repealed the pistol purchase permit framework and added a limited carry carve-out at G.S. 14-269.2(k1) for CHP holders on educational property that is also a place of religious worship, outside school operating hours and where not posted. That is a narrow exception, not a general right to carry on school grounds.https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Constitution/NCConstitution.html. Article I, Section 30 is the state right-to-bear-arms provision and includes a concealed-weapons clause authorizing the General Assembly to regulate concealed carry.https://ncdoj.gov/. Under G.S. 14-415.24(c), the Department of Justice makes annual written inquiry of other states about whether NC residents may carry there on an NC permit, and it publishes that outbound reciprocity information. The concealed-handgun hub is at https://ncdoj.gov/law-enforcement-training/concealed-handgun/. General NCDOJ line: (919) 716-6500.https://ncsheriffs.org/. State association of county sheriffs; lists every county sheriff with contact links. CHPs are issued by the sheriff of the applicant's county of residence under G.S. 14-415.13.https://www.ncdps.gov/. Hosts the State Highway Patrol. Under G.S. 14-415.19, a portion of each CHP application and renewal fee is remitted to NCDPS for the cost of the State and federal criminal record checks.https://ncsbi.gov/. Conducts the State and national records check on the applicant's fingerprints that the sheriff uses during the CHP background investigation under G.S. 14-415.13(b).CHPs are issued by the sheriff of the applicant's county of residence under G.S. 14-415.13. Each county runs its own application portal, fingerprint process, and scheduling system. Permit fees are set by statute at G.S. 14-415.19 (application $80.00, renewal $75.00, duplicate $15.00); processing windows vary widely by county.
https://ncsheriffs.org/sheriffs/. The starting point for finding your county sheriff and the CHP application page.For the full dollar breakdown of the CHP fee, renewal fee, and fingerprint cost, see FEES_COSTS and confirm with your county sheriff's office.
https://www.atf.gov/. Federal firearm regulation, FFL licensing, NFA forms, and the eForms portal at https://eforms.atf.gov/. NFA reference at https://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/laws-alcohol-tobacco-firearms-and-explosives/national-firearms-act. Relevant to G.S. 14-288.8(b)(5), which exempts a person who lawfully owns or possesses an NFA item in compliance with 26 U.S.C. Chapter 53 (sections 5801 to 5871) from the state weapon-of-mass-death-and-destruction prohibition.https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/nics. The federal background-check system. After S.L. 2023-8 repealed the NC pistol purchase permit, the NICS check run by the selling FFL is the operative check for a retail handgun purchase under 18 U.S.C. 922(t).https://www.justice.gov/criminal. Federal firearm prosecution policy and resources.https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/. Free annotated U.S. Code. Section-level URLs follow the pattern /text/18/922 (prohibited persons at 922(g); persons under indictment at 922(n); NICS at 922(t)), /text/18/926A (FOPA peaceable-journey transport), /text/18/926B and /text/18/926C (LEOSA active and retired), /text/18/930 (federal facilities), /text/49/46505 (carrying a weapon into an airport sterile area or onto an aircraft), and /text/26/5845 (NFA definitions). The official text is at https://uscode.house.gov/; Cornell LII is a secondary-tier mirror.https://www.fletc.gov/. Federal training curriculum reference. The public training catalog at https://www.fletc.gov/training-catalog is useful for lesson-plan structure; FLETC courses themselves are restricted to law enforcement.These mirrors are commercial but useful when ncleg.gov is slow or when you want a clean section-level URL. Treat them as cross-verification pointers, not as sole authority.
https://codes.findlaw.com/nc/. Section-level mirror of Chapter 14. CHP eligibility section at https://codes.findlaw.com/nc/chapter-14-criminal-law/nc-gen-st-sect-14-415-12/; reciprocity at /nc-gen-st-sect-14-415-24/.https://law.justia.com/codes/north-carolina/. Parallel mirror of Chapter 14. Article 54B (CHP) is at https://law.justia.com/codes/north-carolina/chapter-14/article-54b/.https://www.ncleg.gov/Laws/GeneralStatutes. The authoritative source. Use this when the mirrors disagree.When a mirror disagrees with ncleg.gov, ncleg.gov controls.
This list is categorical, not a commercial endorsement. NC requires an approved firearms safety and training course for CHP issuance under G.S. 14-415.12(a)(4). That subdivision requires a course that involves the actual firing of handguns and instruction in NC law on carrying a concealed handgun and the use of deadly force, and it lists the bodies that may certify or sponsor an approved course: the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission, the National Rifle Association, and the United States Concealed Carry Association, or a course taught by an instructor certified by one of those three bodies. Cross-reference TRAINING_REQUIREMENTS for curriculum specifics.
https://www.nra.org/. NRA-certified instructors and the NRA Basic Pistol curriculum are expressly recognized in G.S. 14-415.12(a)(4)b. and c. Find a certified instructor at https://www.nrainstructors.org/.https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/. USCCA and USCCA-certified instructors are expressly recognized in G.S. 14-415.12(a)(4)b1. and c. USCCA also publishes a state-by-state reciprocity map at https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/ccw_reciprocity_map/.https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/state-gun-laws/north-carolina/. Legislative tracking and a gun-law summary by state. The summary is current within roughly one legislative cycle; verify against the statute.https://www.saf.org/. National legal advocacy and litigation. SAF files amicus briefs and direct litigation on Second Amendment questions.https://grnc.org/. State-level firearm-rights advocacy and legislative tracking focused on NC.https://www.firearmspolicy.org/. National advocacy and litigation organization.https://giffords.org/lawcenter/. Gun-law summaries written from a gun-control policy perspective. Useful for legislative context. Verify against the statute before relying on any rule statement.https://www.everytown.org/. Similar policy orientation to Giffords. Same caveat: use for context, not for the operative rule.https://ncgv.org/. State affiliate of the gun-violence-prevention coalition. Policy context.Private services offer pre-paid legal representation, attorney referral, and bail-bond support for use-of-force incidents. Described categorically without endorsement. Compare scope of coverage, attorney selection (in-network versus your-choice), exclusions, and per-incident caps before joining.
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/. Bundled with USCCA membership.https://www.uslawshield.com/. State-specific legal coverage; operates in North Carolina.https://armedcitizensnetwork.org/. Membership-based legal-defense fund and educational network.https://www.ccwsafe.com/. Membership-based fee coverage for self-defense legal expenses.https://www.secondcalldefense.org/. Membership-based legal and financial assistance for self-defense incidents.Read the actual member contract. Marketing language is not the policy. North Carolina's criminal and civil immunity provisions at G.S. 14-51.2(e) and G.S. 14-51.3(b) reduce but do not eliminate the cost of a justified incident; coverage policies vary on whether they advance fees or reimburse after the fact.
https://lawofselfdefense.com/. Multi-state self-defense treatise with state supplements and instructor-led training.https://massadayoobgroup.com/. Classic use-of-force texts.https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/. Companion text to the USCCA Certified Instructor course.https://www.nrastore.com/. Companion to the NRA Personal Protection course.https://www.handgunlaw.us/. State-by-state PDFs covering carry rules, reciprocity, and prohibited places. Check the date stamp on the PDF before relying on it.https://ncdoj.gov/law-enforcement-training/concealed-handgun/.https://www.handgunlaw.us/. Comprehensive state-by-state reference and PDFs.https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/state-gun-laws/. Interactive state map.https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/ccw_reciprocity_map/. Interactive map with state-by-state detail pages.When a third-party reciprocity site disagrees with the statute or the NCDOJ outbound list, the statute and the NCDOJ list control. The other sites lag.
North Carolina has no Extreme Risk Protection Order (red flag) statute. There is no NC court process to remove firearms from a person in crisis on the basis of risk alone. Federal firearm-prohibitor categories under 18 U.S.C. 922(g) (including the prohibitor at 922(g)(4) tied to involuntary commitment or an adjudication of mental defect) continue to apply on top of state law; consult Cornell LII or an attorney for the specifics.
If you or someone you know is in a mental-health crisis:
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/. Find the current behavioral-health crisis line and Local Management Entity / Managed Care Organization (LME/MCO) contacts for your county.https://naminc.org/. State affiliate for support, education, and advocacy. National parent at https://www.nami.org/.https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/national-helpline.If a family member is at acute risk, voluntary off-site storage of firearms with a trusted non-prohibited person or with an FFL is a practical option. Consult an attorney before any transfer if interstate movement or a sale is involved.
Statutes change. Reciprocity lists change. URLs change. Three habits protect you:
If a source on this page goes dark, the statute (N.C. Gen. Stat. Chapter 14, Article 54B for the CHP, plus G.S. 14-51.2 and G.S. 14-51.3 for self-defense) and the NC General Assembly bill tracker remain the authoritative fall-backs. Everything else on this page is a convenience layer over those primary sources.
This page covers one part of our North Carolina concealed carry guide.
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