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39 N.C. App. 668

251 S.E.2d 705

State v. Tanner

Court of Appeals of North Carolina

Decided February 6, 1979

Court of Appeals of North Carolina · decided 1979-02-06

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“(a) It shall be unlawful for any person who has been convicted of a felony to purchase, own, possess, or have in his custody, care, or control any firearm or any weapon of mass death and destruction as defined in [section] 14-288.8(c). For the purposes of this section, a firearm is (i) any weapon, including a starter gun, which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive, or its frame or receiver, or (ii) any firearm muffler or firearm silencer. This section does not apply to an antique firearm, as defined in [section] 14-409.11. Every person violating the provisions of this section shall be punished as a Class G felon. (b) Prior convictions which cause disentitlement under this section shall only include: (1) Felony convictions in North Carolina that occur before, on, or after December 1, 1995; and (2) Repealed by Session Laws 1995, c. 487, s.3, effective December 1, 1995. (3) Violations of criminal laws of other states or of the United States that occur before, on, or after December 1, 1995, and that are substantially similar to the crimes covered in subdivision (1) which are punishable where committed by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. .... [Provisions regarding use of records of prior convictions to prove a violation of this section] (c).... [Provisions regarding requirements for the indictment charging a violation of this section] (d) This section does not apply to a person who, pursuant to the law of”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 246 N.C. App. 330 - State v. Miller

“In 1971, the General Assembly enacted the Felony Firearms Act, N.C. Gen.Stat. § 14-415.1, which made unlawful the possession of a firearm by any person previously convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment of more than two years. [Section] 14-415.2 set forth an exemption for felons whose civil rights had been restored. In 1975, the General Assembly repealed [section] 14-415.2 and amended [ section] 14-415.1 to ban the possession of firearms by persons convicted of certain crimes for five years after the date of such conviction, or unconditional discharge from a correctional institution, or termination of a suspended sentence, probation, or parole upon such convictions, whichever is later....”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 246 N.C. App. 330 - State v. Miller

Relies on State v. Greenwood · State v. Fredell

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1979-02-06

How this case has been cited

Cited by 11 later decisions — most recently March 2016

5 federal appellate · 6 state decisions

5019791980199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

ARNOLD, Judge.

¶1 We find no merit in defendant’s assignments of error going to the conduct of his trial. Thus we address only his contention that the statute under which he was convicted is unconstitutional.

¶2*670 G.S. 14-415.1 provides in pertinent part:

(a) It shall be unlawful for any person who has been convicted of [certain felonies, including second degree murder] to purchase, own, possess, or have in his custody, care, or control any handgun . . . within five years from the . . . termination of . . . parole.
Every person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a felony. . . .
Nothing in this subsection would prohibit the right of any person to have possession of a firearm within his own home or on his lawful place of business.

¶3 We find, first of all, that this statute is not unconstitutionally vague. It clearly delineates those to whom it applies and the classes of conduct proscribed, so that a person of ordinary intelligence may be apprised of the conduct forbidden. See State v. Fredell, 283 N.C. 242, 195 S.E. 2d 300 (1973).

¶4 Next, defendant advances three arguments that the statute’s classifications are unconstitutional: (1) it denies the right to possess firearms to those convicted of certain felonies but not all felonies; (2) it allows the right of possession to some felons in the prohibited class due to the length of their sentences, probation and parole; and (3) it allows a convicted felon to possess a firearm in his home or place of business but does not provide a way for him to get the firearm there. We find no merit in these contentions.

¶5 Both the United States and the North Carolina Constitutions allow the State to classify persons and activities when there is a reasonable basis for such classification. See generally 3 Strong’s N.C. Index 3d, Constitutional Law § 20. Our legislature has decided that those convicted of certain felonies will be brought within the restriction of G.S. 14-415.1. Defendant’s earlier conviction was for second degree murder, a crime of violence. We see no constitutional difficulty with this classification scheme as applied to defendant, since there is clearly a reasonable relation between the classification, those convicted of a crime of violence, and the purpose of the statute, protection of the people from violence. The equal protection clauses do not require perfect classification. State v. Greenwood, 280 N.C. 651, 187 S.E. 2d 8 (1972).

¶6*671 Nor do we find the statute invalid because the restriction applies during the five years after conviction, discharge from a correctional institution, or termination of a suspended sentence, probation or parole, whichever is later. G.S. 14-415.1(a). This merely establishes a class, those convicted of the enumerated crimes who are within five years of the end of their punishment, and the law applies uniformly to all members of the class affected.

¶7 Defendant’s third argument is frivolous. We find no constitutional infirmities in the application of this statute to this defendant, and no prejudicial error in his trial.

¶8 No error.

Judges Parker and Webb concur.
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