Raw milk advocate charged with carrying a concealed weapon into NC legislative building

An Asheboro woman is facing charges of bringing a concealed weapon to the North Carolina legislative complex in downtown Raleigh.

2025-05-08

Lorena Allan, 40, was arrested shortly before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at a legislative office building near the state legislative building. She faces misdemeanor charges for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit and for violating legislative building rules by bringing a gun into the complex.

Allan declined to comment when reached by WRAL News on Thursday.

The General Assembly Police Department also declined to comment, referring questions to state Legislative Services Officer Paul Coble. He didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

A person familiar with the matter told WRAL News that the gun was detected and seized at the security screening checkpoint at the entrance of the Legislative Office Building, which is on the northeastern corner of Lane and Salisbury streets, adjacent to the state legislative building. The building was put on lockdown for about 15 minutes, the person said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.

Allan is a proprietor of Arukah Restorative Holistics, a Christian holistic living and sustainable farming company. On social media, Allan has advocated for maintaining access to raw milk for human consumption.

Raw milk has been a heated topic of debate this week at the state legislature due to provisions in an annual farm bill that sought to ban the sale of raw milk to consumers. Lawmakers have walked that back in the face of pressure from raw-milk supporters who descended on the legislative building this week.

State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler and the state Farm Bureau have asked for a ban, saying the bird flu virus, which also infects cattle, makes the sale of raw milk too dangerous.

Advocates for raw milk have vigorously pushed back, accusing legislators of infringing on their personal liberty and bodily autonomy.

In its current form, Senate Bill 639 would ban consumer sales of raw milk but would continue to allow “herdshare” sales, which are subscription-like arrangements that allow raw milk advocates to bypass legal restrictions. A similar bill in the House would also order a study into the feasibility of legalizing broader sales in the future.

That bill was before the Senate Finance Committee at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Legislative Office Building. The meeting concluded at 1:15 p.m., after committee chairman Sen. Tom McInnis declined to take public comments on the raw milk provision.

It was unclear whether Allan was at that meeting or if she was in the building to advocate for raw milk. A Senate clerk didn’t immediately respond to a request for information on whether Allan was on a list of people who had signed up to speak at the meeting.