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Bill Summary · SB 406

SB 406 — "Allow ERPOs to Prevent Suicides and Save Lives" (North Carolina)

Status: Passed 1st Reading (Introduced Feb 14, 2025)
Subject areas: public safety; firearms; courts; domestic violence; mental health

Main purpose

Establishes an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) process to temporarily restrict a person’s access to firearms when there is evidence they pose a significant danger of physical harm to themselves or others. The bill also authorizes seizure of firearms, ammunition, and permits that a respondent fails to surrender after emergency or ex parte domestic-violence protective orders, and builds procedural safeguards and reporting requirements into the process.

Key provisions

  • Creates a new Chapter 50E (Extreme Risk Protection Orders Act).
  • Definitions:
    • ERPO — the court order issued under the chapter.
    • Family/household member — includes relatives, current/former dating partners, persons who share a child with the respondent, domestic partners, legal guardians, and other close family relationships.
    • Firearm — broadly defined to include weapons designed to expel a projectile by explosive action (and frame/receiver).
  • Who may petition (verified petition in district court):
    • Family or household members
    • Current or former spouses or dating partners
    • Law enforcement officers or agencies
    • Health care providers
  • Petition content requirements:
    • Allegation (with supporting facts) that respondent poses (or, for ex parte requests, imminently poses) danger by possessing firearms.
    • Best-known identification of number, types, and locations of firearms.
    • Identification of existing protection orders and pending legal actions between parties.
  • Ex parte (emergency) relief allowed where petitioner alleges imminent danger.
  • Process & service:
    • Summons and supporting documents must be issued and served (clerk arranges service through law enforcement).
    • Except as otherwise provided, a summons must be served not later than five days before the final ERPO hearing.
    • Electronic filing permitted.
    • No court costs for filing or service of ERPO petitions or orders.
  • Remedies and enforcement (statutory provisions require):
    • ERPOs may temporarily prohibit possession of firearms and related permits.
    • Courts may order seizure of firearms, ammunition, or permits not surrendered after emergency/ex parte domestic-violence protective orders (text provides for seizure/remedy provisions).
    • Statute contemplates mental-health or chemical-dependency evaluation components (see §50E-6).
  • Confidentiality protections:
    • Petitioners eligible for the State Address Confidentiality Program may use substitute addresses; other address nondisclosure protections apply if petitioner shows risk to safety.
  • Reporting requirement:
    • Administrative Office of the Courts must produce an annual report (beginning Dec 1, 2025) to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice & Public Safety and the Fiscal Research Division including: number of petitions, ex parte ERPOs issued/declined, final ERPOs issued/declined, and reasons for denial.

Who is affected

  • Respondents: individuals alleged to pose an imminent danger; may face temporary loss of firearm access and potential seizure.
  • Petitioners: family, intimate partners, law enforcement, and health care providers gain a civil remedy to request temporary firearm restrictions.
  • Courts, clerks, and law enforcement: responsible for processing, service, seizure, and enforcement.
  • Public health and safety stakeholders: potential tool for suicide prevention and domestic-violence risk mitigation.

Procedural/timeline aspects

  • Ex parte (emergency) orders can be sought immediately where imminent danger is alleged; final hearing follows after service (summons generally served at least five days before final hearing).
  • Annual administrative reporting begins Dec 1, 2025.
  • No filing or service costs are charged to petitioners.

Practical implications

  • Creates a civil legal pathway to temporarily remove firearms from people judged to pose a significant risk to self/others, balancing public-safety aims with court-ordered due-process protections (petition, hearing, defined petitioners, service rules).
  • Implementation will require court procedures, law-enforcement seizure protocols, clerical processes for service and filing, and tracking/reporting systems.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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