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House Bill 2866 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 2866
(By Delegates Hamilton, A. Evans, Andes, Ireland,
Walker, Moye, Lynch, P. Smith, J. Nelson,
Frich and Sponaugle)
[Introduced March 7, 2013; referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §20-2-58 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing an exception to allow
a resident of a dwelling house to discharge a firearm in a
lawful manner within five hundred feet of that dwelling house
in which the person lives if no other dwelling house is
located within five hundred feet of the person shooting; and
raising the distance within which a person can discharge a
firearm from a school or church from four hundred feet to five
hundred feet.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §20-2-58 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-58. Shooting across road or near building or crowd;
penalty.
It shall be unlawful for any person to shoot or discharge any
firearms across or in any public road in this state, at any time,
or within four five hundred feet of any schoolhouse or church, or
within five hundred feet of any dwelling house, or on or near any
park or other place where persons gather for purposes of pleasure,
and any person violating this section is guilty of a misdemeanor:
Provided, That a resident of a dwelling house may shoot or
discharge a firearm in a lawful manner within five hundred feet of
that dwelling house in which the person lives if no other dwelling
house is located within five hundred feet of the person shooting:
Provided, however, That any person operating a gun repair shop,
licensed to do business in the State of West Virginia and duly
licensed under applicable federal statutes, may be exempted from
the prohibition established by this section and section twelve,
article seven, chapter sixty-one of this code for the purpose of
test firing a firearm. The director of the department Division of
Natural Resources shall prescribe such rules as may be necessary to
carry out the purposes of the exemption under this section and
section twelve, article seven, chapter sixty-one and shall ensure
that any person residing in any dwelling home within five hundred
feet of such gun repair shop be given an opportunity to protest the
granting of such exemption.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide an exception to
allow a resident of a dwelling house to discharge a firearm in a
lawful manner within five hundred feet of that dwelling house in
which the person lives if no other dwelling house is located within
five hundred feet of the person shooting. The bill also corrects an
anomaly that allows a person to shoot a firearm at a closer
distance to a school or church than to a dwelling house. This bill
raises the distance for a school or church from 400 feet to 500
feet to bring it into conformity with the 500 feet shooting
distance for dwelling houses.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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