When New Bern police found unassembled bomb-making equipment during a traffic stop earlier this year, the State Bureau of Investigation said there wasn't much they could do.
That's because the improvised explosive device hadn't been put together yet, SBI Chief of Staff Brent Culbertson said.
"There was not a statute that they could really charge them under, other than just Class 2 misdemeanor, fireworks-type statute," Sen. Warren Daniel said Tuesday during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting.
Daniel, a Republican from Burke County, is cosponsoring a bill to change that. The proposal has the SBI's support.
It would make it a Class H felony to possess "any explosive or incendiary device or material when the circumstances indicate some probability" it would be used to harm people or property.
A person found guilty could be sentenced to anywhere from four to 39 months in prison.
Culbertson likened the new proposal, , to a 2011 law that made it easier to shut down meth labs by restricting possession of the chemicals used to make the drug.
He said there have been several cases where "clearly the design is to engage in bomb-making," but the existing statute didn't allow serious charges to be filed.
SBI spokesperson Chad Flowers said New Bern police contacted the SBI on Jan. 4 for help disposing of bomb-making equipment they found in a vehicle. The bomb squad detonated the materials.
"It鈥檚 my understanding that they did not charge anybody in this case because it was a misdemeanor case," Flowers said.
New Bern police didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
