ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2650
(By Delegates Linch, Faircloth, Harrison, Proudfoot, Staton, Warner
and Collins)
[Passed March 13, 1998; in effect from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact section three, article one, chapter seven
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty- one, as amended; and to amend and reenact section five-a, article
twelve, chapter eight of said code, all relating to restricting the
power of counties and municipalities to control the purchase,
possession, transfer, carrying, transport, sale and storage of
certain weapons and ammunition; and providing certain exceptions
thereto.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article one, chapter seven of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended and reenacted; and that section five-a, article twelve,
chapter eight of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
CHAPTER 7. COUNTY COMMISSIONS AND OFFICERS.
ARTICLE 1. COUNTY COMMISSIONS GENERALLY.
§7-1-3. Jurisdiction, powers and duties.
The county commissions, through their clerks, shall have the custody of all deeds and other papers presented for record in their
counties and the same shall be preserved therein, or otherwise
disposed of as now is, or may be prescribed by law. They shall have
jurisdiction in all matters of probate, the appointment and
qualification of personal representatives, guardians, committees,
curators and the settlement of their accounts and in all matters
relating to apprentices. They shall also, under the rules as now are
or may be prescribed by law, have the superintendence and
administration of the internal police and fiscal affairs of their
counties, including the establishment and rule of roads, ways,
streets, avenues, drives and the like, and the naming or renaming
thereof, in cooperation with local postal authorities, the division
of highways and the directors of county emergency communications
centers, to assure uniform, nonduplicative conversion of all rural
routes to city-type addressing on a permanent basis, bridges, public
landings, ferries and mills, with authority to lay and disburse the
county levies. They shall, in all cases of contest, judge of the
election, qualification and returns of their own members, and of all
county and district officers, subject to appeal as prescribed by law.
The tribunals as have been heretofore established by the Legislature
under and by virtue of section thirty-four, article VIII of the
constitution of one thousand eight hundred seventy-two, for police and
fiscal purposes, shall, until otherwise provided by law, remain and
continue as at present constituted in the counties in which they have
been respectively established, and shall be and act as to police and
fiscal matters in lieu of the county commission herein mentioned,
until otherwise provided by law. And until otherwise provided by law, the clerk as is mentioned in section twenty-six, article VIII
of the constitution, as amended, shall exercise any powers and
discharge any duties heretofore conferred on, or required of, any
court or tribunal established for judicial purposes under said section
of the constitution of one thousand eight hundred seventy-two, or the
clerk of the court or tribunal, respectively, respecting the recording
and preservation of deeds and other papers presented for record,
matters of probate, the appointment and qualification of personal
representatives, guardians, committees, curators and the settlement
of their accounts and in all matters relating to apprentices. The
county commission may not limit the right of any person to purchase,
possess, transfer, own, carry, transport, sell or store any revolver,
pistol, rifle or shotgun or any ammunition or ammunition components
to be used therewith nor to so regulate the keeping of gunpowder so
as to, directly or indirectly, prohibit the ownership of the
ammunition.
Provided: That no provision in this section may be
construed to limit the authority of a county to restrict the
commercial use of real estate in designated areas through planning or
zoning ordinances.
CHAPTER 8. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.
ARTICLE 12. GENERAL AND SPECIFIC POWERS, DUTIES AND ALLIED RELATIONS
OF MUNICIPALITIES, GOVERNING BODIES AND MUNICIPAL OFFICERS AND
EMPLOYEES; SUITS AGAINST MUNICIPALITIES.
§8-12-5a. Limitations upon municipalities' power to restrict the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying, transport, sale and storage of certain weapons and ammunition.
The provisions of section five of this article notwithstanding,
neither a municipality nor the governing body of any municipality may
limit the right of any person to purchase, possess, transfer, own,
carry, transport, sell or store any revolver, pistol, rifle or shotgun
or any ammunition or ammunition components to be used therewith nor
to so regulate the keeping of gunpowder so as to directly or
indirectly prohibit the ownership of the ammunition. Nothing herein
shall in any way impair the authority of any municipality, or the
governing body thereof, to enact any ordinance or resolution
respecting the power to arrest, convict and punish any individual
under the provisions of subdivision (16), section five of this article
or from enforcing any such ordinance or resolution:
Provided, That
any municipal ordinance in place as of the effective date of this
section shall be excepted from the provisions of this section:
Provided however, That no provision of this section may be construed
to
limit the authority of a municipality to restrict the commercial
use of real estate in designated areas through planning or zoning
ordinances.