GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2001
SESSION LAW 2001-470
HOUSE BILL 1468
AN ACT TO PROVIDE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR THE KNOWING
MANUFACTURE, ASSEMBLY, POSSESSION, STORAGE, TRANSPORTATION,
SALE, PURCHASE, DELIVERY, OR ACQUISITION OF NUCLEAR,
BIOLOGICAL, OR CHEMICAL WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, TO
PROVIDE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR THE USE OR ATTEMPTED USE OF
NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL, OR CHEMICAL WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION,
TO PROVIDE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR THE FALSE REPORTING OF A
NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL, OR CHEMICAL WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION,
TO PROVIDE CRIMINAL PENALTIES FOR THE PERPETRATION OF A HOAX
BY THE USE OF A FALSE NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL, OR CHEMICAL WEAPON
OF MASS DESTRUCTION, AND TO PROVIDE THAT MURDER BY MEANS OF A
NUCLEAR, BIOLOGICAL, OR CHEMICAL WEAPON IS FIRST DEGREE
MURDER.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. Chapter 14 of the General Statutes is
amended by adding a new Article to read:
"Article 36B.
"Nuclear, Biological, or Chemical Weapons of Mass
Destruction.
"§ 14-288.21. Unlawful manufacture, assembly, possession,
storage, transportation, sale, purchase, delivery, or
acquisition of a nuclear, biological, or chemical
weapon of mass destruction; exceptions; punishment.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this
section, it is unlawful for any person to knowingly manufacture,
assemble, possess, store, transport, sell, offer to sell,
purchase, offer to purchase, deliver or give to another, or
acquire a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon of mass
destruction.
(b) This section does not apply to:
(1) Persons listed in G.S. 14-269(b) with
respect to any activities lawfully engaged in while
carrying out their duties.
(2) Persons under contract with, or
working under the direction of, the United States,
the State of North Carolina, or any agency of
either government, with respect to any activities
lawfully engaged in under their contracts or
pursuant to lawful direction.
(3) Persons lawfully engaged in the
development, production, manufacture, assembly,
possession, transport, sale, purchase, delivery or
acquisition of any biological agent, disease
organism, toxic or poisonous chemical, radioactive
substance or their immediate precursors, for
preventive, protective, or other peaceful
purposes.
(4) Persons lawfully engaged in accepted
agricultural, horticultural, or forestry practices;
aquatic weed control; or structural pest and rodent
control, in a manner approved by the federal,
State, county, or local agency charged with
authority over such activities.
(c) The term 'nuclear, biological, or chemical
weapon of mass destruction', as used in this Article, means any
of the following:
(1) Any weapon, device, or method that is
designed or has the capability to cause death or
serious injury through the release, dissemination,
or impact of:
a. Radiation or radioactivity;
b. A disease organism; or
c. Toxic or poisonous chemicals or their
immediate precursors.
(2) Any substance that is designed or has
the capability to cause death or serious injury
and:
a. Contains radiation or
radioactivity;
b. Is or contains toxic or poisonous
chemicals or their immediate precursors;
or
c. Is or contains one or more of the
following:
1. Any select agent that is a
microorganism, virus, bacterium, fungus,
rickettsia, or toxin listed in Appendix A
of Part 72 of Title 42 of the Code of
Federal Regulations.
2. Any genetically modified
microorganisms or genetic elements from
an organism on Appendix A of Part 72 of
Title 42 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, shown to produce or encode
for a factor associated with a
disease.
3. Any genetically modified
microorganisms or genetic elements that
contain nucleic acid sequences coding for
any of the toxins listed on Appendix A of
Part 72 of Title 42 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, or their toxic
submits.
The term 'nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon of mass
destruction' also includes any combination of parts or
substances either designed or intended for use in converting any
device or substance into any nuclear, biological, or chemical
weapon of mass destruction or from which a nuclear, biological,
or chemical weapon of mass destruction may be readily assembled
or created.
(d) Any person who violates any provision of this
section is guilty of a Class B1 felony.
"§ 14-288.22. Unlawful use of a nuclear, biological, or
chemical weapon of mass destruction; punishment.
(a) Any person who unlawfully and willfully
injures another by the use of a nuclear, biological, or chemical
weapon of mass destruction is guilty of a Class A felony and
shall be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
(b) Any person who attempts, solicits another, or
conspires to injure another by the use of a nuclear, biological,
or chemical weapon of mass destruction is guilty of a Class B1
felony.
(c) Any person who for the purpose of violating
any provision of this Article, deposits for delivery or attempts
to have delivered, a nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon of
mass destruction by the United States Postal Service or other
public or private business engaged in the delivery of mail,
packages, or parcels is guilty of a Class B1 felony.
"§ 14-288.23. Making a false report concerning a nuclear,
biological, or chemical weapon of mass destruction;
punishment; restitution.
(a) Any person who, by any means of
communication to any person or group of persons, makes a report,
knowing or having reason to know the report is false, that
causes any person to reasonably believe that there is located at
any place or structure whatsoever any nuclear, biological, or
chemical weapon of mass destruction is guilty of a Class D
felony.
(b) The court may order a person convicted under
this section to pay restitution, including costs and
consequential damages resulting from disruption of the normal
activity that would have otherwise occurred but for the false
report, pursuant to Article 81C of Chapter 15A of the General
Statutes.
(c) For purposes of this section, the term
'report' shall include making accessible to another person by
computer.
"§ 14-288.24. Perpetrating hoax by use of false nuclear,
biological, or chemical weapon of mass destruction;
punishment; restitution.
(a) Any person who, with intent to perpetrate
a hoax, conceals, places, or displays any device, object,
machine, instrument, or artifact, so as to cause any person
reasonably to believe the same to be a nuclear, biological, or
chemical weapon of mass destruction is guilty of a Class D
felony.
(b) The court may order a person convicted under
this section to pay restitution, including costs and
consequential damages resulting from disruption of the normal
activity that would have otherwise occurred but for the hoax,
pursuant to Article 81C of Chapter 15A of the General
Statutes."
SECTION 2. G.S. 14-17 reads as rewritten:
"§ 14-17. Murder in the first and second degree defined;
punishment.
A murder which shall be perpetrated by means of a
nuclear, biological, or chemical weapon of mass destruction as
defined in G.S. 14-288.21, poison, lying in wait,
imprisonment, starving, torture, or by any other kind of
willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing, or which shall be
committed in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of any
arson, rape or a sex offense, robbery, kidnapping, burglary, or
other felony committed or attempted with the use of a deadly
weapon shall be deemed to be murder in the first degree, a Class
A felony, and any person who commits such murder shall be
punished with death or imprisonment in the State's prison for
life without parole as the court shall determine pursuant to
G.S. 15A-2000, except that any such person who was under 17
years of age at the time of the murder shall be punished with
imprisonment in the State's prison for life without parole.
Provided, however, any person under the age of 17 who commits
murder in the first degree while serving a prison sentence
imposed for a prior murder or while on escape from a prison
sentence imposed for a prior murder shall be punished with death
or imprisonment in the State's prison for life without parole as
the court shall determine pursuant to G.S. 15A-2000. All other
kinds of murder, including that which shall be proximately
caused by the unlawful distribution of opium or any synthetic or
natural salt, compound, derivative, or preparation of opium, or
cocaine or other substance described in G.S. 90-90(1)d., when
the ingestion of such substance causes the death of the user,
shall be deemed murder in the second degree, and any person who
commits such murder shall be punished as a Class B2 felon."
SECTION 3. G.S. 14-288.8(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)The term 'weapon of mass death and destruction' includes:
(1) Any explosive, incendiary, poison gas or
radioactive material:explosive or
incendiary:
a. Bomb; or
b. Grenade; or
c. Rocket having a propellant charge of more than
four ounces; or
d. Missile having an explosive or incendiary
charge of more than one-quarter ounce; or
e. Mine; or
f. Device similar to any of the devices described
above; or
(2) Any type of weapon (other than a shotgun or a
shotgun shell of a type particularly suitable for
sporting purposes) which will, or which may be
readily converted to, expel a projectile by the
action of an explosive or other propellant, and
which has any barrel with a bore of more than
one-half inch in diameter; or
(3) Any firearm capable of fully automatic fire, any
shotgun with a barrel or barrels of less than 18
inches in length or an overall length of less than
26 inches, any rifle with a barrel or barrels of
less than 16 inches in length or an overall length
of less than 26 inches, any muffler or silencer for
any firearm, whether or not such firearm is
included within this definition. For the purposes
of this section, rifle is defined as a weapon
designed or redesigned, made or remade, and
intended to be fired from the
shoulder.shoulder; or
(4) Any combination of parts either designed or
intended for use in converting any device into any
weapon described above and from which a weapon of
mass death and destruction may readily be
assembled;assembled.
(5) Radioactive material,
which means any solid, liquid or gas which emits or
may emit ionizing radiation spontaneously or which
becomes capable of producing radiation or nuclear
particles when controls or triggering mechanisms of
any associated device are operable.
The term 'weapon of mass death and destruction' does not
include any device which is neither designed nor redesigned for
use as a weapon; any device, although originally designed for
use as a weapon, which is redesigned for use as a signaling,
pyrotechnic, line-throwing, safety, or similar device; surplus
ordnance sold, loaned, or given by the Secretary of the Army
pursuant to the provisions of section 4684(2), 4685, or 4686 of
Title 10 of the United States Code; or any other device which
the Secretary of the Treasury finds is not likely to be used as
a weapon, is an antique, or is a rifle which the owner intends
to use solely for sporting purposes, in accordance with Chapter
44 of Title 18 of the United States Code."
SECTION 4. G.S. 143-34.1(a1) as enacted by S.L.
2001-424, Section 32.19A.(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a1) A department, institution, or other agency of State
government may establish new receipt-supported positions only
after prior consultation with the Joint Legislative Commission
on Governmental Operations. This subsection shall not apply to
work-order funded positions in the Department of Transportation
that are created for the purpose of highway construction
orconstruction, to positions at The University
of North Carolina or its constituent
institutions.institutions, or to positions
established by the Governor to expand the State's capabilities
in dealing with the threat of terrorism in the event of an
emergency or other exigent circumstances."
SECTION 5. This act is effective when it becomes
law and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.
Prosecutions for offenses occurring before the effective date of
this act are not abated or affected by this act, and the
statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain
applicable to those prosecutions.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified
this the 27th day of November, 2001.
s/ Beverly E. Perdue
President of the Senate
s/ James B. Black
Speaker of the House of
Representatives
s/ Michael F. Easley
Governor
Approved 11:20 a.m. this 28th day of November, 2001