Senate Bill No. 458
(By Senator Grubb)
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[Introduced March 22, 1993;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article seven, chapter sixty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
seven-a, relating to control of deadly weapons.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article seven, chapter sixty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
seven-a, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. DANGEROUS WEAPONS.
§61-7-7a. Control of certain deadly weapons.
(a) The Legislature finds that notwithstanding the
overwhelming support of the citizens of West Virginia for article
three, section twenty-two of the constitution of this state,
commonly known as the "Right to Keep and Bear Arms Amendment", it
is in the public interest to regulate and control the sale and
purchase of certain deadly weapons.
(b) The director of the department of public safety shall,no later than the first day of September, one thousand nine
hundred and ninety-three, promulgate a legislative rule, pursuant
to chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, regulating the sale and
purchase of assault weapons and handguns: Provided, That such
rule shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) the establishment of a reasonable waiting period prior
to completion of the sale;
(2) the establishment of a procedure verifying residency and
obtaining criminal history record information prior to completion
of the sale; and
(3) the creation of a procedure limiting the sale of such
weapons to no more than one weapon per month;
(c) For the purposes of this section, the following
definitions shall apply:
(1) "Handgun" shall mean any pistol or revolver or other
firearm originally designed, made and intended to fire a
projectile by means of an explosion from one or more barrels when
held in one hand; and
(2) "Assault weapons" shall include, but not be limited to,
the following weapons: TEC-9, MAC-10, MAC-11, UZI, AK-47, a
street sweeper shotgun, and any exact copies of the foregoing
under a different name.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to regulate the sale and
purchase of certain deadly weapons.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.