What is the definition of a felony and a misdemeanor?
Throughout these gun law pages, we will refer to laws that make it illegal for someone convicted of a felony to have a gun. In NC, a felony is any offense that is punishable by a prison sentence of more than one year in the state prison or a death sentence. A misdemeanor is any offense that is punishable by a sentence of less than one year.* However, you cannot always tell if someone was convicted of a felony only by looking at the amount of time s/he actually served in prison since sentences are often reduced or pled down. If you are unsure if the abuser was convicted of a felony, you might want to talk to the prosecutor who handled the criminal case against the abuser to find out or go to the courthouse where s/he was convicted and search the conviction records. For information on how a felony is defined under federal law, please see the Federal Gun Laws page.
