WRAL reported Friday night that a Lee County District Court judge allegedly displayed a firearm in court on July 17. The North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts told The Rant Friday that it’s “aware and the allegations have been referred to the Judicial Standards Commission.”
The Administrative Office of the Courts provided the statement in response to an inquiry about reports of a courtroom incident involving a gun but didn’t provide details about the allegations.
Citing “a source,” WRAL identified the judge as District Court Judge Brian Lewis and reported the firearm had a laser sight, which flashed into the face of an employee of the Clerk of Court’s Office. WRAL reported that the gun was not displayed “in a threatening manner.”
Lewis is a Republican who serves Lee, Harnett and Johnston counties and was first elected in 2024 without opposition. According to his campaign website, he served in the Air Force and became an attorney in 2013, prosecuting cases in Durham and Cumberland counties before his election to the bench.
Proceedings of the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission are confidential under North Carolina law unless disciplinary action is taken. State law allows judges to carry firearms in courtrooms under certain conditions. WRAL’s report indicates the allegations involve the manner of the firearm’s display, rather than Lewis’ possession of the gun.
The Rant has requested records from Lee County related to the incident and will update this story as additional information becomes available.
Interesting, this should be interesting
I’ve been a certified CCH instructor for more than 5 years. In my classes, we cover fully the laws governing use and carry. Assault by Pointing a Gun, NCGS 14-34, is a Class A1 misdemeanor (the most serious kind of misdemeanor). If it is a fact that the pistol-mounted laser sight was visible on that court clerk, then Judge Lewis most likely committed that crime. I say “most likely” because Judge Lewis is innocent until proven guilty, and deserves a hearing where the rules of evidence matter.
A lot of well-intentioned 2A people have been commented about how Judge Lewis has every right to carry that gun in the courtroom, and they are absolutely correct. The issue here is about whether that gun was carried and ultimately handled safely. The *vast* majority of concealed carry permit holders carry responsibly. There’s no reason I can think of why Judge Lewis shouldn’t be held to the legal standard which governs the behavior he is accused of.
Judge Lewis is a good person, has no ill spirit, gives all sides a fair hearing and tries to make the right decisions in Court. I didn’t witness the event but it sounds like the alleged pointing was unintentional, inadvertent, accidental and thus not criminal. While I don’t prefer firearms being allowed in Court, it is lawful for Judges and District Attorneys to carry.
It seems over the top and unnecessary to report an otherwise well meaning and capable Judge to Judicial Standards for an unintentional mistake when, knowing Judge Lewis, the accident won’t happen again.
If both the pointing of the gun (a Class A1 misdemeanor) and the pointing of a laser device at another person’s face (an infraction) did in fact happen and were in fact accidental, then I would agree that no crime has been committed. I also don’t think that Judge Lewis has violated the judicial code of conduct.
However, what I keep going back to is this: if I called the police to tell them that someone pointed a gun at my face, and I know this because others saw the laser sight on my face, what would happen? An investigation, I would hope. Who is supposed to conduct that sort of investigation of an NC District Court Judge?
Also, the gun did not leave the holster by accident. The only way I can imagine it ending up pointed in the direction of another person is that Judge Lewis may have handled the gun in a way that is unsafe. And, I can tell you to a near-certainty that for people who are careless with guns, there’s a good chance that something like this is not a one-off.
Most people who carry guns have precious little professional training. NCGS 14-415.27 lays out the expanded right for some court officers and some public officials to carry concealed without a permit, and without training. I’d be willing to hold a free beginner pistol or private instruction to these folks, if it could help wave off another incident like this.
Finally, the two most important gun handling rules are as follows: keep the gun pointed in a safe direction; and, keep your finger off the trigger until you’re up on target and ready to shoot. Where you point the gun is probably the most important rule, because if you mess up all the others but the gun has been pointed in a safe direction, no one is injured. That this is the exact safety rule which seems to have been violated is concerning to me.
Now do this for a dumb dim judge?