Don’t bring a gun to the NC legislature. Here’s what happens when someone does
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- Security stopped a woman with a handgun at the NC Legislative Office Building.
- Lawmakers debate notification protocols after gun arrest on 'chaotic' session day.
- Security checkpoints installed in the past decade have blocked weapons and deterred entry.
There was a time when the public could walk right into the North Carolina General Assembly’s buildings, without any security checkpoints.
Now security is standard procedure for visitors, much as people have come to expect at many government buildings, concerts and sporting events. The change, which started less than a decade ago, has stopped at least three known guns and potentially more as people have approached security and then turned away once they saw law enforcement officers.
The system was tested again recently, and a woman arrested after attempting to bring in a Smith and Wesson M&P handgun, along with an extended magazine and three rounds of ammunition, according to a police report obtained by The News & Observer. M&P stands for military and police, because the gun is favored by police, though it is also popular with civilians.
Visitors must pass through security at the entrances to the Legislative Building on Jones Street and the Legislative Office Building behind it on Salisbury Street in downtown Raleigh, with metal detectors and conveyor belts for bags to pass through. It’s a familiar setup — the same kind of security protections you encounter a few blocks away at the Wake County Courthouse and other government buildings.
Not all states have metal detectors and X-ray scanners at state government buildings.
In Wisconsin, there are no security screeners at the entrances to the State Capitol, where officials in all three branches of government work. In 2023, a man was arrested after twice coming to the Capitol in Madison armed with a gun and wanting to speak with the governor, The Associated Press reported.
Back in Raleigh, the security system was tested in May by a person who was arrested for trying to bring a gun inside the legislative complex. WRAL-TV first reported that an advocate for access to raw milk was arrested.
The security upgrades and their success in keeping out some weapons haven’t ended the conversation about safety. Some lawmakers want notifications when incidents like the one in May occur.
What happens at the door if someone brings a weapon
The N&O obtained the General Assembly Police Department report through a public-records request to the Legislative Services Office, which oversees the state employees who work at the legislative complex, including the police.
The incident happened about 1:20 p.m. on May 7, at the third-floor entrance of the Legislative Office Building, which is a six-story building with offices for House and Senate members and staff, plus several committee rooms. One of the security screeners called over an officer to look at the X-ray machine showing a large metal mass inside a black bag, according to the report.
The bag belonged to Lorena Allan of Asheboro, who was charged with violating Legislative Building rules and carrying a concealed gun.
Police hand-searched the bag’s main compartment, and after running it through the X-ray machine again, found the Smith and Wesson M&P in a side pocket of the purse. Additional law enforcement were called and arrived in about 10 seconds, and Allan was handcuffed and escorted to a room for processing. She was later taken to and then released from the Wake County Detention Center.
The N&O contacted Allan through her lawyer, but did not receive a response. According to state court records, her court hearing scheduled for June 9 was delayed until July.
House Speaker Destin Hall said that any time there is a security breach, law enforcement notify at least the leaders of both the House and Senate.
The legislative complex has a system to notify lawmakers and state employees more widely. There is also an intercom system in the Legislative Building to alert everyone in case of an emergency. A building-wide notification was not used in the incident at the LOB.
Some lawmakers want alerts about incidents
Lawmakers praised the General Assembly Police Department for their actions, but some have raised questions about when and how to notify the people who work in the buildings and visit them.
Sen. Woodson Bradley, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, said she is “thankful to our law enforcement officers in the building, they acted quickly and efficiently. They are keeping us safe.”
As the daughter and wife of law enforcement officers, “I know firsthand the commitment it takes to protect the public.” And in the May incident, she told The N&O in an interview, police “did their job, and they do not get enough credit for all of the things — I can’t imagine now, like what else has been stopped from coming into the building? But they do an incredible job, we need to celebrate them.”
Still, she said, “public safety is not just about the response. It’s about warning people in real time so that they can respond appropriately, and we need a notification system, period.
“If someone brings a gun into this building and the public isn’t notified, nor the staff of the legislature, that’s a failure, and we can and we must do better.”
“The building doesn’t just belong to the lawmakers, it belongs to the people of North Carolina. And on any given day, especially with me, you’ll find school children on field trips, families sightseeing every day, folks exercising their right to be heard,” Bradley said.
Bradley said the day of the most recent incident, debate over regulating raw milk in a committee hearing drew a large crowd, on a day she described as “chaotic.” House Billl 609 would allow raw milk consumption, and a measure in the Senate was discussed in committee that day.
Bradley said she didn’t know about the incident until hours later, when she saw it on the TV news that evening.
House Democratic Leader Robert Reives, whose office is in the Legislative Office Building, said he didn’t get an internal notification, unless he had missed an email.
“I would imagine that’s something that leadership would be looking at,” Reives said, about notifying more people at once when there’s an incident. “One, I expect leadership to do it. Two, I think it’d be a great idea ... we’ve got a lot of people here.”
Bradley likened the gun incident and pending legislation to allow people to carry a concealed handgun without a permit “two sides of the same coin, and it’s a complete failure to prioritize public safety and keep our families safe. And I’m speaking as a responsible gun owner, not as a senator right now.”
Legislative Services Officer Paul Coble told The N&O in an interview that it “would be impossible to notify everybody of everything that happens in these two buildings, because of the number of incidents that we run into.”
“Everybody needs to, and should know, that they are safe, that our police department and our security screeners do an excellent job, and we take care of those matters. So that’s something they don’t have to worry about,” he said.
‘People saw security, turned around and walked away’
Coble said the security screening areas were added about nine years ago, once he became legislative services officer. It started with the Legislative Building, then was added later to the Legislative Office Building, which required an extension of the lobby.
“I think the proof is in the pudding. We have stopped not just handguns coming in here. We’ve stopped a large number of prohibitive items, all of which can be used offensively. So I think people in the building are much safer and feel safer because of everything that we’ve done,” Coble said.
“And then you don’t know how many we stopped, that never made it to the door, where people saw security, turned around and walked away,” he said.
“We know that has happened, because we see people come to the door, turn around and walk away. Now, whether it’s a gun or another prohibitive item, like a knife or tear gas, or something like that — but we know that prevention has been very effective,” Coble said.
Lines to get through security in the legislative complex can be long on busy days when there are hundreds of visitors, from students on field trips to protesters.
Berger, Hall say the system worked
Senate leader Phil Berger said there was no need to “unnecessarily panic people” with a building-wide alert on May 7 because the gun was stopped at the door.
“Why would there be a need to tell people that, once the person was stopped and the gun was confiscated, if there was the possibility of there being a problem?” Berger said.
“The problem had been resolved. And unless there was some information that she was part of a larger group that was trying to sneak weapons in, to my understanding, there was no information to that effect. I don’t know why you’d want to sound an alarm like that, and unnecessarily panic people,” he said.
Berger said if somehow a gun had gotten through the security screening, an alert might need to go out, but that didn’t happen.
“It was confiscated at the time they tried to come in the building,” he said.
House Speaker Destin Hall told The N&O that lawmakers rely on the professionals in the General Assembly police, and defer to them on when and how to publicize incidents.
“The good news is, it looks like our system here worked in terms of catching that when they came in. When I first started serving, there was no metal detectors anywhere in either this building or the other one,” Hall said about the Legislative Building and Legislative Office Building.
Hall said the police handled it well.
“I’m glad they caught it,” he said.
Past arrests for guns at the legislature
Coble said that the arrest in May was the third incident of someone trying to bring a gun into the legislature since the security measures were installed, and all were stopped at the door.
In 2019, General Assembly police arrested a man for attempting to bring in a handgun and two loaded magazines. He was charged with concealed carry without a permit and violating building rules. The man had a scheduled meeting with the late N.C. Rep. Joe John, who was also a former judge. John talked about it on the House floor that day, with the Wake County Democrat asking lawmakers to come to a “common-sense consensus” on firearms, The N&O reported at the time.
The General Assembly sent a bill to Gov. Josh Stein’s desk on Wednesday that would allow people to carry concealed handguns without a permit, Senate Bill 50. The bill passed the Senate along party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats again. However, in the House, not all Republicans want to get rid of the training, background checks and other requirements that accompany permits. Two Republicans voted against the bill, and 10 were absent. That means there are not enough votes in the House to overturn a potential veto from Stein.
This story was originally published June 16, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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