North Carolina has not enacted a red-flag / Extreme Risk Protection Order statute. The closest functional analog is firearm surrender under a Chapter...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
North Carolina has not enacted a red-flag / Extreme Risk Protection Order statute. The closest functional analog is firearm surrender under a Chapter 50B Domestic Violence Protective Order (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50B-3.1).
There is no statute in North Carolina that lets a family member, a household member, a co-worker, an educator, a medical professional, or a law-enforcement officer petition a civil court to temporarily prohibit firearm possession on a "risk" or "danger to self or others" theory, the way roughly 21 other states and the District of Columbia do. There is no NC ERPO petition form, no ex parte risk-order hearing, and no civil judgment that strips firearm rights without an underlying act of domestic violence, an underlying criminal conviction, or an underlying mental-health adjudication or commitment.
What does exist in NC is a narrower mandatory firearm-surrender mechanism tied to a Chapter 50B Domestic Violence Protective Order (DVPO). When a magistrate or district court judge issues an emergency or ex parte DVPO and the court finds one of four trigger factors, the court must order the defendant to surrender every firearm, all ammunition, every permit to purchase firearms, and every permit to carry a concealed handgun to the sheriff. Violation is a Class H felony. That is NC's red-flag-adjacent tool. Read the rest of this section as describing how that tool works and where it does not reach.
If you are a concealed handgun permit (CHP) holder or instructor, the practical takeaway is short. You will not be subject to an NC "red-flag" order outside the DV context. But if you are named as a defendant in a Chapter 50B emergency or ex parte protective order with any of the four firearm-trigger findings, the surrender obligation attaches. The federal floor at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) attaches independently when a qualifying intimate-partner DV restraining order is entered against you after notice and a hearing.
The operative statute is N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50B-3.1, titled "Surrender and disposal of firearms; violations; exemptions." This is the primary firearm-removal mechanism in NC outside of criminal-conviction-based prohibitions. It is tethered to a DVPO. It is not freestanding.
Before § 50B-3.1 attaches, there must be a Chapter 50B DVPO in some form. Under § 50B-3(a), if the court finds that an act of domestic violence has occurred, the court "shall grant a protective order restraining the defendant from further acts of domestic violence." Among the available forms of relief is § 50B-3(a)(11): "Prohibit a party from purchasing a firearm for a time fixed in the order." That is the firearm-purchase prohibition. The § 50B-3.1 mandatory firearm-surrender obligation is a separate and stronger remedy that piggybacks on the same order.
DVPOs in NC have a maximum initial duration of one year under § 50B-3(b), with renewal for a fixed period not to exceed two years per renewal. Under § 50B-3(d), the sheriff of the county where the order is entered must provide for prompt entry of the order into the National Crime Information Center registry and for magistrate access on a 24-hour-a-day basis.
The mandatory firearm-surrender obligation attaches upon issuance of an emergency or ex parte order. That order can be issued before the defendant has notice or an opportunity to contest, on the basis of the plaintiff's sworn allegations. Under § 50B-3.1(a), the court must order surrender of all firearms, machine guns, ammunition, permits to purchase firearms, and permits to carry concealed firearms if it finds any one of the following four factors:
The use or threatened use of a deadly weapon by the defendant, or a pattern of prior conduct involving the use or threatened use of violence with a firearm against persons. This is the broadest of the four.
Threats to seriously injure or kill the aggrieved party or minor child by the defendant. The statute does not require that the threat involve a firearm; the firearm-surrender consequence can still attach.
Threats to commit suicide by the defendant. This is the trigger most analogous to a red-flag suicide-risk petition in ERPO states. Note that the threat must come from the defendant. NC does not have a statute that lets a worried third party petition based on a non-defendant's suicide risk outside the DVPO context.
Serious injuries inflicted upon the aggrieved party or minor child by the defendant.
Any one of these factors triggers the mandatory surrender obligation. The statute uses "shall order," so once a triggering finding is made on an emergency or ex parte order, surrender follows.
Under § 50B-3.1(b), at the ex parte or emergency hearing, the court must inquire of the plaintiff about the defendant's presence of, ownership of, or access to firearms, ammunition, and permits, and must include identifying information about description, number, and location in the order whenever possible. Under § 50B-3.1(c), the same inquiry runs against the defendant at the 10-day hearing. The point of the dual inquiry is to give the sheriff enough description to locate and seize the firearms.
Under § 50B-3.1(d), upon service of the order, the defendant must immediately surrender to the sheriff all firearms, machine guns, ammunition, and permits in the defendant's care, custody, possession, ownership, or control. If weapons cannot be surrendered at the time the order is served, the defendant must surrender them to the sheriff "within 24 hours of service at a time and place specified by the sheriff." The 24-hour window is statutory.
The sheriff is responsible for storage. The sheriff stores the firearms or contracts with a licensed firearms dealer to provide storage. Under § 50B-3.1(d)(2), the sheriff "may charge the defendant a reasonable fee for the storage of any firearms and ammunition." The fees are payable to the sheriff, who transmits the proceeds to the county finance officer; the funds are restricted to administering this section and other law-enforcement purposes. The defendant must remit all fees owed before any authorized return. The sheriff incurs no civil or criminal liability for alleged damage or deterioration due to storage or transportation.
Under § 50B-3.1(d)(1), if the court orders surrender, it must inform both parties of the terms of the protective order and include those terms on the face of the order, including: (1) that the defendant is prohibited from possessing, purchasing, or receiving (or attempting to possess, purchase, or receive) a firearm for as long as the protective order or any successive protective order is in effect; (2) instructions on how the defendant may request retrieval when the order is no longer in effect; and (3) notice of the penalty for violation of G.S. 14-269.8.
The statute provides three retrieval pathways for surrendered items, each with different procedural requirements.
Pathway A: automatic retrieval if the order does not stick (§ 50B-3.1(e)). If the court does not enter a protective order when the ex parte or emergency order expires, or the protective order is denied following a hearing, the defendant may retrieve surrendered weapons without an additional court order, unless the court finds the defendant is precluded from owning or possessing a firearm under State or federal law or by final disposition of pending criminal charges committed against the protective-order subject. Before release, the sheriff must verify through a NICS criminal-history check that the defendant is not prohibited under 18 U.S.C. § 922 or any State law and does not have pending criminal charges committed against the protective-order subject (or pending charges that, if convicted, would prohibit possession).
Pathway B: motion for return at order expiration (§ 50B-3.1(f), the 90-day window). The defendant may file a motion for return at the expiration of the current order (or final disposition of pending criminal charges committed against the protective-order subject) and not later than 90 days after that expiration or final disposition. The court must schedule a hearing, provide written notice to the plaintiff and to the sheriff holding the items, and determine whether the defendant is precluded from owning or possessing a firearm. The court's inquiry includes:
The court must deny return if it finds the defendant is precluded, or if covered pending criminal charges remain, until those charges reach final disposition.
The 90-day window is a hard statutory deadline. If the defendant misses it, the firearms become subject to disposal under § 50B-3.1(h) below.
Pathway C: motion for return by a third-party owner (§ 50B-3.1(g)). A third party who actually owns surrendered items and is otherwise eligible to possess them (for example, a roommate or family member whose firearms were in the same residence) may file a motion at any time after seizure and before disposal under subsection (h). The court orders return unless it determines the third party is disqualified from ownership or possession under State or federal law. If the court denies return to the third party, the items go to disposal under (h).
After notice to the defendant and all parties known or believed to have an ownership or possessory interest, including any third-party owner, the sheriff may apply to the court for an order of disposition if: (1) neither the defendant nor a third-party owner filed a return motion within 90 days and the defendant did not retrieve the items under subsection (e) within 90 days; (2) the court has determined the defendant or third-party owner is precluded from regaining possession; or (3) the defendant or third-party owner fails to remit storage fees within 30 days of an order granting return or a retrieval request under subsection (e). After a hearing, the judge may order disposition in one or more ways authorized by law, including subdivision (4), (4b), (5), or (6) of G.S. 14-269.1 (the general disposition statute for confiscated weapons), such as sale. If a sale occurs, proceeds after costs go to the defendant or any known third-party owner if requested by motion before or at the hearing and ordered by the judge.
Under § 50B-3.1(j), in accordance with G.S. 14-269.8, it is unlawful for any person to possess, purchase, or receive (or attempt to possess, purchase, or receive) a firearm as defined in G.S. 14-409.39(2), a machine gun, ammunition, or permits to purchase or carry concealed firearms if ordered by the court, for as long as that protective order or any successive protective order entered under Chapter 50B is in effect. Any defendant violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a Class H felony. G.S. 14-269.8 independently makes the same conduct a Class H felony and confirms the grade.
Three categories of conduct are independently unlawful under § 50B-3.1(i) for any person subject to a protective order prohibiting firearm possession or purchase:
Each is a freestanding statutory violation. The Class H felony grade applies to the possession / purchase / receipt offense under subsection (j); failure-to-disclose and false-statement conduct can carry separate consequences depending on the procedural posture (contempt of court, perjury, obstruction).
Under § 50B-3.1(k), the section does not prohibit law-enforcement officers and members of any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, not otherwise prohibited under federal law, from possessing or using firearms for official use only. The carve-out is purpose-limited. An on-duty LEO defendant in a DVPO does not get a personal-firearm exemption.
Under § 50B-3.1(l), nothing in the section limits the court's discretion to grant additional relief authorized elsewhere in Chapter 50B. The surrender obligation is in addition to, not in lieu of, other DVPO remedies.
Independent of the State surrender mechanism in § 50B-3.1, federal law at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) makes it unlawful for any person to possess, ship, transport, or receive firearms or ammunition while subject to a qualifying domestic-violence protective order. The federal prohibition attaches by operation of law when three conditions are met:
The order was issued after a hearing of which the person received actual notice and at which the person had an opportunity to participate. (This means the federal prohibition typically attaches at the 10-day hearing stage, not the ex parte stage, because ex parte orders lack notice and an opportunity to participate.)
The order restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner of the person or a child of the intimate partner or person, or from engaging in conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child.
Either: (A) the order includes a finding that the person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of the intimate partner or child, OR (B) the order, 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.
For NC DVPOs at the 10-day or final-hearing stage that involve an intimate-partner relationship and contain a credible-threat finding or an explicit no-force prohibition, both the State surrender obligation under § 50B-3.1 and the federal § 922(g)(8) prohibition typically attach. Both are order-specific. When the qualifying order expires or is vacated, the prohibitions lift.
Two practical points for instructors. First, a § 922(g)(8) violation is a federal felony and can be charged independently of any State prosecution. Second, § 922(g)(8) does not extend to all DVPOs. If the protective order is against a non-intimate-partner relative or another relationship not within the federal "intimate partner" definition, the § 922(g)(8) prohibition may not attach even though the NC § 50B-3.1 surrender obligation does. Whether a particular DVPO triggers the federal prohibitor is a fact-specific question that turns on the underlying relationship.
NC Chapter 122C governs involuntary commitment of persons with mental illness or substance-use disorders. A person who has been committed to a mental institution, or adjudicated as a mental defective, is federally prohibited from possessing firearms under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(4), and the record is reported to NICS. The commitment or adjudication, not any firearm-specific order, is the trigger. NC law at G.S. 14-415.12(c) recognizes that CHP eligibility lost to such an adjudication or commitment can be restored where the individual's rights have been restored under G.S. 14-409.42.
No Chapter 122C statute was scraped for this RED_FLAG build, so the operative analysis here is the federal § 922(g)(4) framework plus the State restoration pathway noted above. A full treatment of NC commitment-triggered firearm prohibition is out of scope for this section.
The structural point is this: a 122C commitment is not an ERPO substitute. It requires a clinical finding severe enough to justify involuntary commitment, not a generalized "risk" showing. The petition mechanism is medical-clinical, not civil-protective. A worried family member cannot get a friend committed under 122C simply because the friend owns firearms and seems unstable; the statutory threshold is materially higher.
The following mechanisms exist in roughly 21 ERPO states and the District of Columbia. None of them exists in NC:
A petition-based Extreme Risk Protection Order statute allowing any party to ask a court to prohibit firearm possession on a generalized "danger to self or others" theory, outside the Chapter 50B domestic-violence context.
A pathway for law-enforcement officers to petition for firearm removal based on observed dangerousness, threatening statements, or social-media activity, where the subject has not been arrested or committed.
A pathway for family members, household members, or roommates who are not within a Chapter 50B qualifying "personal relationship" category to petition for firearm removal.
A pathway for medical professionals, mental-health providers, or school officials to petition for firearm removal when they have concerns about a patient or student.
A "Risk Warrant" or emergency-seizure mechanism that lets officers seize firearms from a location without a search warrant tied to a criminal investigation.
A "red-flag" statute by name or by statutory cross-reference. No NC General Statutes provision references an ERPO framework or incorporates a risk-of-harm petition procedure outside the DV-protective-order context.
The available NC firearm-removal tools are: (1) a Chapter 50B DVPO with § 50B-3.1 surrender, which requires a qualifying DV relationship and one of the four trigger factors on an emergency or ex parte order or a finding of domestic violence at the hearing stage; (2) criminal-conviction-based State prohibitors after a conviction; and (3) federal § 922(g) prohibitors after a triggering event. There is no fourth pathway under State law that operates on a "risk" theory alone.
NC has not enacted legislation specifically governing recognition of out-of-state ERPOs. The practical implications for an NC resident who has been the subject of an ERPO in another state:
An out-of-state ERPO is not, by itself, an NC § 50B-3.1 surrender trigger. The NC statute attaches to a Chapter 50B DVPO, not to a foreign risk order.
An out-of-state ERPO may nonetheless show up on a NICS background check at the point of sale and may produce a federal denial if the order satisfies a § 922(g) prohibitor's terms. Section 922(g)(8) requires an intimate-partner order issued after notice and a hearing; many out-of-state ERPOs do not involve an intimate-partner predicate, in which case § 922(g)(8) does not attach. Whether any other federal prohibitor attaches is fact-specific to the order's underlying findings.
A sheriff issues an NC CHP under the criteria in G.S. 14-415.12. That statute is shall-issue: the sheriff must issue the permit if the applicant meets the objective criteria in subsection (a) and is not disqualified under subsection (b). One disqualifier, G.S. 14-415.12(b)(1), is being ineligible to own, possess, or receive a firearm under State or federal law. An out-of-state order that triggers a federal § 922(g) prohibitor would surface on the background check the sheriff runs under G.S. 14-415.13 and could support a denial under that disqualifier. There is no separate "good moral character" or general-dangerousness standard in G.S. 14-415.12; the disqualifiers are the enumerated grounds in subsection (b).
If you advise an out-of-state client moving to NC who has an active ERPO from another state, do not assume the order has no NC effect. A federal prohibition may follow, and the order may appear on NICS.
| Tool | Authority | Triggering event | Duration | Effect on firearms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ex parte / emergency DVPO with firearm-surrender finding | § 50B-3.1(a) + § 50B-3(a) | Sworn DV allegations plus one of four trigger factors | Until the matter is heard | Mandatory surrender to sheriff; 24-hour window if not surrenderable at service |
| Final DVPO (hearing, up to one-year term) | § 50B-3 + § 50B-3.1 | Finding of domestic violence after notice and hearing | Up to 1 year (renewable up to 2 years) | State surrender obligation continues; federal § 922(g)(8) prohibition attaches if intimate-partner predicate and credible-threat finding or explicit no-force term |
| Failure to surrender / unauthorized possession during DVPO | § 50B-3.1(j); G.S. 14-269.8 | Possession, purchase, receipt, or attempt while order in effect | Active prosecution | Class H felony |
| Automatic retrieval after non-entered or denied order | § 50B-3.1(e) | Ex parte expires without order; or hearing denies order | n/a | Return after NICS verification by sheriff |
| Motion for return at order expiration | § 50B-3.1(f) | DVPO ends; defendant files motion within 90 days | n/a | Return after court inquiry on prohibitors / pending charges |
| Motion for return by third-party owner | § 50B-3.1(g) | Third-party ownership claim before disposal | n/a | Return unless third party is themselves disqualified |
| Disposal of abandoned firearms | § 50B-3.1(h); G.S. 14-269.1 | 90 days lapsed without motion or retrieval; or storage fees unpaid 30+ days | n/a | Court-ordered sale or other disposition; proceeds to defendant / third-party owner if requested |
| Federal DV protective-order prohibition | 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) | Qualifying intimate-partner order entered after notice and hearing | Duration of qualifying order | Federal possession / transport / receipt ban |
| ERPO petition outside DV context | (none in NC) | n/a | n/a | NC has no equivalent statute |
If a client is served with a Chapter 50B emergency or ex parte DVPO and the order contains a firearm-surrender directive, the 24-hour clock under § 50B-3.1(d) starts at service. The client must surrender to the sheriff at the time and place the sheriff specifies. Self-storage at an off-site location, transfer to a household member, or temporary loan to a friend does not satisfy the order. Failure to surrender is a freestanding violation under § 50B-3.1(i)(1).
If a client expects a Chapter 50B order may be entered and asks whether they can pre-empt surrender by selling firearms to a third party first, the answer requires legal counsel. The surrender obligation attaches to firearms in the defendant's "care, custody, possession, ownership, or control" at the time of the order. A bona fide sale before service may remove particular items from the surrender obligation, but a sham transfer can support both contempt and a separate Class H felony charge under § 50B-3.1(j). Document any pre-order transfer thoroughly and through an FFL where possible.
If a client is the third-party owner of firearms seized under a § 50B-3.1 order against another person, the client should file a motion under § 50B-3.1(g) as soon as practical and well before the 90-day abandonment window under (h) closes. The motion requires proof of ownership and eligibility to possess.
If a client's protective order expires or is dismissed and the client wants the firearms back, the 90-day deadline under § 50B-3.1(f) is real. Missing it puts the items into the disposal procedure under (h), and even a successful third-party intervention later requires litigation. Calendar the 90-day deadline at the moment of order expiration.
Storage fees are at the sheriff's discretion under § 50B-3.1(d)(2). The fee can become a barrier to retrieval if the order runs its full term, because all fees owed must be remitted before any authorized return. Confirm the sheriff's fee schedule at the time of surrender and plan for the cost.
A § 50B-3.1 order does not extinguish federal-law CHP eligibility considerations. Even after the State surrender ends and firearms are returned, federal § 922(g)(8) may have been triggered during the order's pendency, and any pending federal charges survive the state-court proceeding.
If you are responding to a client in mental-health crisis without a DV nexus, NC's tool set is limited. The operative resources are 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline), local mobile crisis units, emergency-room mental-health screening, and voluntary firearm surrender to a family member or licensed dealer for safekeeping. None of these is an ERPO and none requires a court order. The federal Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 created federal grant funding for state ERPO implementation; NC has not enacted a State ERPO statute.
North Carolina has no general red-flag / Extreme Risk Protection Order statute. The only NC firearm-removal mechanism that operates short of a criminal conviction is the mandatory surrender provision attached to a Chapter 50B Domestic Violence Protective Order, codified at N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50B-3.1. Surrender attaches when the court finds any of four trigger factors on an emergency or ex parte order, continues through the hearing and any final order, and carries a Class H felony penalty for violation under § 50B-3.1(j) and G.S. 14-269.8. Federal 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) attaches independently to qualifying intimate-partner protective orders entered after notice and a hearing. Outside the DV context, NC provides no statutory pathway for any party to petition a court to prohibit firearm possession on a generalized risk theory.
United States v. Rahimi (2024). In United States v. Rahimi, 602 U.S. 680 (2024), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal firearm prohibition at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) for persons subject to a qualifying domestic-violence restraining order, holding the federal disability is consistent with the Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation under the framework of N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022). Rahimi is the controlling Supreme Court authority on the constitutionality of federal firearm disabilities tied to domestic-violence protective orders. It bears on any state-level red-flag / ERPO analysis to the extent those frameworks borrow § 922(g)(8) prohibitor mechanics.
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