With exceptions for a small number of specified government employees and security guards, North Carolina generally prohibits any person, including concealed handgun permit holders, from carrying a firearm, whether openly or concealed, into the following locations:

• Educational facilities (except that a concealed handgun permittee may keep a firearm locked in his or her vehicle on the grounds of these facilities);¹

• A law enforcement or correctional facility;

• A state or federal building or office of the state or federal government (except that a concealed handgun permittee may keep a firearm locked in his or her vehicle on the grounds of these buildings);

• Any private property where the legal possessor has posted conspicuous notice or stated that carrying a concealed handgun is prohibited;

• Any place where the carrying of a concealed firearm is prohibited under federal law;² or
• Any picket line or demonstration upon any private health care facility or public place;³

North Carolina also generally prohibits persons without a concealed handgun permit from carrying any firearms into the following locations:

• Any parade or funeral procession.⁴
• Any assembly where a fee has been charged for admission, or any establishment in which alcoholic beverages are sold and consumed, (except by the owner or lessee of the premises or establishment, or by a person participating in the event carrying a gun with the permission of the owner, lessee, or event sponsor);⁵

Pursuant to a law enacted in 2011, a concealed handgun permittee is authorized to carry a concealed handgun into a state park.⁶ However, the law allows a local government to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the carrying of a concealed handgun on a municipal and county playground, athletic field, swimming pool, or athletic facility, although a concealed handgun licensee may still secure a handgun within the trunk, glove box, or other enclosed compartment or area of a locked vehicle.⁷ Cities and counties may also regulate or prohibit possession of firearms in, or on the grounds or in the parking areas of, publicly owned buildings, public parks, or recreation areas. A person may, however, store a firearm within a motor vehicle while the vehicle is on these grounds or areas.⁸

In 2015, the state enacted a law allowing the Commissioner of Agriculture to prohibit firearms at the State Fair, however, concealed handgun permittees must be allowed to store their firearms in their locked vehicles on the State Fairgrounds.⁹

North Carolina has no statutes prohibiting firearms in the following places, although administrative regulations may apply:

• Hospitals;

• Sports arenas;

• Gambling facilities; or

• Polling places.

State administrative regulations may prohibit the carrying of firearms in additional locations.

1. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-269.2(k). North Carolina has defined “educational facilities” to include school buildings, school buses, school campuses, school grounds, school recreational areas, school athletic fields, or other property owned or operated by any board of education or school board of trustees, or directors for the administration of any school. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-269.2(a).[↩]
2. N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 14-415.11(c), 14-415.27.[↩]
3. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-277.2(a).[↩]
4. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-277.2(d).[↩]
5. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-269.3. Note that N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-415.11(c2) also makes it unlawful for any person, with or without a permit, to carry a concealed handgun while consuming alcohol, or at any time while the person has remaining in the person’s body any alcohol, or in the person’s blood a controlled substance previously consumed. A person does not violate this condition if a controlled substance in the person’s blood was lawfully obtained and taken in therapeutically appropriate amounts or if the person is on the person’s own property.[↩]
6. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-415.11(c1).[↩]
7. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-415.23.[↩]
8. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 14-409.40(f).[↩]
9. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 106-503.2.[↩]