It is a really stupid law, that I feel for the most part will be ignored during the hurricane.
The good thing that may come out of this is an effort to fix a problem with the law.
Now the question is “intent” of the legislatures who sponsored the law. If they are still in office I think it might be a threat to their re-election.
The people of NC are not that different from Texas in most respects. I am married to a Tar Heel.
I'm sure the intent of the law is to let police deal with the situation and not have the extra burden of sorting out the good from the bad when it comes to armed bands or individuals moving about during the emergency. It allows someone to protect his own premises. And in a perfect world, that would be great--sort of like government involvement in marriage is fine...as long as everyone operates in a traditional marriage view.
But when there's a forced evacuation or a corrupt state, this is a dangerous law. And as eyedigress rightly points out, one might be in violation of the state law if one were to take an otherwise prudent course of action.