Section 1

Enacts GS 14-269.9 making it a Class A1 misdemeanor for a person to possess, purchase, or receive or attempt to do so, a firearm, machine gun, ammunition, or permits to purchase or carry concealed firearms if the person has been adjudicated guilty of or received a prayer for judgment continued or a suspended sentence for an offense under GS 14-32.5 (misdemeanor crime of domestic violence), or an offense in another state, that if committed here, is substantially similar to an offense under GS 14-32.5. Applies to offenses committed on or after December 1, 2025.

Section 2

Adds new Article 53D, Universal Background Check, to GS Chapter 14, providing as follows. Prohibits a federally licensed firearm dealer from selling, transferring, or delivering a firearm to a private person without conducting a background check that includes verifying the private person's identity by examining a government-issued identification card and conducting a check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Makes it illegal for the following person to possess a firearm: (1) 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); (2) fugitive from justice; (3) unlawful user of or addicted to marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, or narcotic drug; (4) adjudicated mentally incompetent or has been committed to any mental institution; (5) alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States; (6) discharged from the US Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions; (7) has renounced his or her US citizenship; (8) subject to a court order that was issued after a hearing of which the person received actual notice, and at which the person had an opportunity to participate, that restrains the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of the intimate partner, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child, and that 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. Makes it illegal for a federally licensed firearm dealer to sell, transfer, or deliver a firearm to another person if the background check reveals that possession by the person would violate the law or if the dealer knows or has reason to know that the person is prohibited from possessing a firearm. Makes it a Class F felony for a federally licensed firearm dealer to sell, transfer, or deliver a firearm to a person in violation of this Article, or any person to provide materially false information to the dealer with the intent of illegally obtaining a firearm.

Makes it illegal for a private person to transfer a firearm to another without conducting a background check through a federally licensed firearm dealer and the firearm dealer verifying that the transfer is not illegal. Defines transfer. Requires a private person who transfers any firearm in a transaction subject to these requirements to keep a record of the transfer that includes specified information about the person to whom the transfer is made; specifies that the records are not public record but must be made avail to law enforcement agencies upon request. Sets out exceptions for transactions involving specified family members and guardians. Violations are a Class F felony. Applies to transfers of firearms occurring on or after October 1, 2025. 

Section 3

Reenacts the following as they existed immediately prior to their repeal: (1) GS 14-402 (Sale of certain weapons without permit forbidden); (2) GS 14-403 (Permit issued by sheriff; form of permit; expiration of permit); (3) GS 14-404 (Issuance or refusal of permit; appeal from refusal; grounds for refusal; sheriff's fee); (4) GS 14-405 (Record of permits kept by sheriff; confidentiality of permit information); (5) GS 14-407.1 (Sale of blank cartridge pistols); (6) GS 14-408.1 (Solicit unlawful purchase of firearm; unlawful to provide materially false information regarding legality of firearm or ammunition transfer); (7) GS 14-315(b1)(1) (includes as a defense to the prohibition on selling or giving a firearm to a minor that the person shows that the minor produced an apparently valid permit to receive the weapon); and (8) GS 122C-54(d2) (giving sheriffs access to the record of involuntary commitment for inpatient or outpatient mental health treatment or for substance abuse treatment required to be reported to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System). Applies to pistols sold, given away, transferred, purchased, or received on or after October 1, 2025.

Section 4

Enacts new GS 115C-76.37 requiring the governing bodies of public school units to create a policy requiring parents or guardians of students to submit a form before the start of each school year certifying that any firearms in their home are safely stored. Applies beginning with the 2025-26 school year.

Section 5

Includes a savings clause.