This issue is one of my pet peeves, and was one of the main reasons I co-founded the ECU chapter of SCCC two years ago.
Here's the thing. If you have no relationship to the school, and you just happen to wander onto campus with an handgun in your possession (loaded or unloaded--doesn't matter), it's a Class 1 Misdemeanor.
NCGS § 14‑269.2. (f)(1) and (1a)
BUT, if you have DO have a relationship to the school (student, faculty, staff, contractor, parent of student, etc), and you are caught on campus with a handgun in your possession (loaded or unloaded, permit or no permit--doesn't matter), it's a
CLASS 1 FELONY.
NCGS § 14‑269.2.(b)
http://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bysection/chapter_14/gs_14-269.2.html
So what this means, is when some townie thug creeps onto campus with a gun he's planning to use to rape or mug a student, and he gets caught, it's a misdemeanor that's a little more serious than running a red light.
But if you have ANY legitimate reason to be on campus (like a job, or classes) and you get caught with a gun, you can go to jail for 2 years.
Doesn't that make PERFECT sense?
Some of NC's gun laws are "F-ed up" on a Herculean scale...
So, no, "importinvasion", there is NO WAY for you to legally bring a firearm onto university property in NC.
Having a CHP does not give you exemption.
Unloading it and locking it up doesn't give you exemption.
Working late hours on a campus with a well-known history of violent crime perpetrated by predatory townie thugs who prey on students and staff doesn't give you exemption.
Unless you are an LEO, active-Duty Military on a mission, or an instructor who has express permission from the President of the University to use firearms in a class, there is simply NO WAY to legally possess a firearm on a NC college or university campus--and that INCLUDES locking it up in your car--if your car is parked on campus property.
When I worked late shift in the computer labs at ECU (meaning I closed down the labs after midnight) I would park off-campus, on a public street and walk a few blocks to and from campus. That was the only way to have a gun in my car and still be legal.
I can neither confirm or deny if I or anyone I knew (faculty or students) was ever in possession of a firearm while on ECU property.
I'm not going to tell anyone to break the law, but if it's locked up and your safe is discrete and well-disguised, who would ever know that you had it unless for some reason some campus cop came up with a creative reason to search your vehicle?
Just sayin'...
If you feel you HAVE to carry, and you HAVE to park on campus property, just remember that it is a FELONY. Is the potential risk of never being allowed to vote or possess a firearm worth the risk of not being armed? Only you can make that decision.
I would suggest you try and find on-street public parking spaces that are within walking distance of campus. That seems to be the only legal solution to this insane quandary that NC law puts us in...