Section 1

Appropriates $397,014 in recurring funds for 2026-27 and $7,504 in nonrecurring funds from the General Fund to the Conference of District Attorneys (Conference) to be used to hire two additional resource prosecutors and those prosecutors must focus on the prosecutions of criminal gang activity.

Appropriates $136,298 in recurring funds for 2026-27 and $4,198 in nonrecurring funds from the General Fund to the Conference to be used to hire a district attorney investigator who must focus on prosecutions of criminal gang activity.

Effective July 1, 2026.

Section 2

Amends GS 14-50.16A by amending the definitions of (1) criminal gang (removing the requirement that one of a group’s primary activities be the commission of criminal or delinquent acts and adding that a group must engage in criminal gang activity); (2) criminal gang activity (removing “to further any criminal purpose of a criminal gang” from the end of the condition that participants in the offense are identified as criminal gang members acting individually or collectively); (3) criminal gang leader or organizer (requiring a criminal gang member to meet at least one of the listed criteria (was, at least two)); and (4) criminal gang member (requiring a person to meet two or more criteria (was, at least three)). Effective December 1, 2026, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Section 3

Amends GS 14-50.17 making it a Class F felony (was, Class H) for any person to cause, encourage, solicit, or coerce a person at 18 years of age or older to participate in criminal gang activity (was, 16 or older) and adds that for purposes of GS 14-50.17 causing, encouraging, soliciting, or coercing a person to participate in such activity includes both publicly and privately shared communications created or shared online, including social media platforms.

Similarly, amends GS 14-50.18 making it a Class D felony (was, Class F) for any person to cause, encourage, solicit, or coerce a person under 18 (was, 16) to participate in criminal gang activity and adds that for purposes of GS 14-50.18 causing, encouraging, soliciting, or coercing a person to participate in such activity includes both publicly and privately shared communications created or shared online, including social media platforms.

Effective December 1, 2026, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Section 4

Enacts GS 14-50.31 making it a Class H felony for any person identified by any court in NC as a member of a criminal gang to purchase, own, possess, or have in their custody, care, or control any firearm or any weapon of mass death and destruction. Defines firearm as any weapon that will, is designed to, or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by action of an explosive, or its frame or receiver, or any firearm muffler or silencer. Specifies that the statute does not apply to an antique firearm.

Enacts GS 14-50.32 defining brandish (display all or part of a firearm or otherwise make firearm presence known to another person), crime of violence (crime where physical force is used or threatened against the person or property of another in the course of committing a crime), drug crime (any offense chargeable by indictment under GS Chapter 90, Article 5), and firearm (identical to GS 14-50.31 above). Makes it a Class G felony for any member of a criminal gang during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug crime the person can be charged by indictment under NC law to use, carry, or possess a firearm in furtherance of that crime; a Class F felony if a firearm is brandished during the commission of the offense; and a Class D felony if a firearm is discharged during the commission of the offense.

Enacts new GS 14-50.33 making it a Class G felony for any person to sell, deliver, give, or transfer a firearm to a person the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to believe is a member of a criminal gang if the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to believe the member intends to carry, possess, discharge, or otherwise use the firearm in commission of a criminal act listed in GS 14-50.16A(2). Makes it a Class G felony for a criminal gang member to sell, deliver, give, or transfer a firearm to a person the member knows or has reasonable cause to believe is a juvenile (person under the age of 18) if the member knows or has reasonable cause to believe the juvenile intends to carry, possess, discharge, or otherwise use the firearm in commission of a criminal act listed in GS 14-50.16A(2).

Enacts new GS 14-50.34 allowing criminal gang activity, membership, association, leadership, and existence to be proven through testimony of a fact witness, expert witness, or combined fact expert witness. Provides that expert testimony is admissible to show conduct, status, and customs as indicative of criminal gangs and criminal gang activity in any proceeding pursuant to GS Chapter 14, Article 13A and provides list of what that includes.

Enacts new GS 14-50.35 providing that in any criminal proceeding brought under GS Chapter 14, Article 13A the crime will be construed to have been committed in any county in which any act was performed as part of criminal gang activity.

Effective December 1, 2026, and applies to offense committed on or after that date.

Section 5

Amends GS Chapter 8C, Article 4 by adding new rule of evidence, Rule 416 allowing evidence of criminal gang activity, as defined in GS 14-50.16A, to be admissible in certain proceedings related to criminal gang activity or any proceeding under GS Chapter 14, Article 13B. Requires prosecutor disclosure of evidence to defendant where prosecutor intends to offer evidence under the rule. Clarifies this rule is not the exclusive means to admit or consider evidence described in the rule. Effective December 1, 2026, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

Section 6

Amends GS 15A-1340.16E(a) enhancing the sentence of a person convicted of any felony other than Class A, B1, or B2 and it is found the offense was committed as part of criminal gang activity in GS 14-50.16A(2) by requiring the person be sentenced at a felony class level two classes (was, one) higher than the principal felony the person is convicted of. Amends GS 15A-1340.16E(b) by requiring a person be sentenced at a felony class level three (was, two) classes higher than the principal felony the person is convicted of, if GS 15A-1340.16(a) applies and the person is found to be a criminal gang leader or organizer, as defined in GS 14-50.16A(3). Effective December 1, 2026, and applies to offense committed on or after that date.