HB 643 North Carolina House · 2025-2026 Session

Clarify Firearm Storage Law.

HB 643 clarifies North Carolina's firearm storage law (G.S. 14-315.1) to explicitly include both loaded and unloaded firearms stored near ammunition. It directly affects households with minors by requiring owners to store firearms - whether loaded or unloaded - in a way that prevents unsupervised minor access, addressing a court case where an unloaded gun next to ammo led to a teen's accidental death. The bill amends the statute to specify that storage "in a condition that the firearm can be discharged" covers scenarios where firearms are accessible with ammunition, aligning with the law's intent to prevent harm. The change takes effect December 1, 2025, for offenses committed on or after that date.
Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Apr 2025
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Apr 1, 2025 Last action Apr 2, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Filed Edition 1 · 3 edits
MINOR
The bill document was updated from a filed draft version to the first official edition, adding sponsor information and changing the bill number format. No substantive policy changes to the firearm storage law itself were made in this revision.
TECHNICAL

Added complete list of sponsors (Representatives Rubin, Helfrich, A. Jones, and Clark) and reference to the General Assembly website for full sponsor information

Changed bill identifier from DRH30283-ML-114 to H643-v-1

Updated session date from April 1, 2025 to April 2, 2025

Floor votes

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
3
Key actions
0
Committee
1
Apr 2, 2025
Committee
Ref To Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
lower
Apr 1, 2025
Introduced
Filed
lower
2 primary · 13 co-sponsors

Sponsors