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14 <br /> 7 <br /> Second Amendment does not prohibit a local ordinance banning the <br /> possession of handguns by individuals, it in itself is not <br /> sufficient to authorize a North Carolina municipality to enact such <br /> a regulation. <br /> 2 . North Carolina Constitution. <br /> Two srparate provisions of the Constitution of North Carolina <br /> directly impact the issue of Town adoption of an ordinance regulat- <br /> ing or prohibiting the possession or sale of weapons, Article I, <br /> Section 30 and Article II, Section 24 . <br /> a. Article I, Sec. 30 of the North Carolina Constitution <br /> provides: <br /> A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of <br /> a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms <br /> shall not be infringed; and, as standing armies in time of <br /> peace are dangerous to liberty, they shall not be maintained, <br /> and the military shall be kept under strict subordination to, <br /> and governed by, the civil power. Nothing herein shall <br /> justify the practice of carrying concealed weapons, or prevent <br /> the General Assembly from enacting penal statutes against that <br /> practice. <br /> Although the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution does not <br /> prohibit a local ordinance, this provision of the North Carolina <br /> Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court of North <br /> Carolina, would not allow the Town to adopt a prohibition on the <br /> possession of weapons. State v. Dawson, 272 N.C. 535, 159 S. E. 2d <br /> 1 (1968) : <br /> North Carolina decisions have interpreted our Constititution <br /> as guaranteeing the right to bear arms to the people in a <br /> collective sense-similar to the concept of a militia-and also <br /> to individuals. 159 S.L. 2d at 9. <br /> See also State v. Fennell, 95 N.C. App. 140, 382 S.E. 2d 231 <br /> (N.C.App. 1989) , citing Dawson as authority for the principle that <br /> "the North Carolina Constitution has been interpreted to guarantee <br /> a broader right to keep and bear arms" (than the Second Amendment <br /> to the U.S. Constitution) . <br /> Under this provision oethe State Constitution, in my opinion the <br /> present legislation can not be considered as giving the Town the <br /> authority to ban the possession of weapons. Nor, under this <br /> provision, could the Legislature authorize the Town to adopt an <br /> ordinance prohibiting the possession of guns within the Town <br /> limits. <br /> The Court in Dawson made. it clear that the State Constitutional <br /> right to bear arms "is not absolute, but is subject to regulation. " <br />