sb443 intr

Senate Bill No. 443
(By Senator Mitchell)
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[Introduced March 8, 2001; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article seven, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to exempting magistrates from the concealed weapons licensing requirements.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That section six, article seven, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 7. DANGEROUS WEAPONS.

§61-7-6. Exceptions as to prohibitions against carrying concealed deadly weapons.

The licensure provisions set forth in this article do not apply to:

(1) Any person carrying a deadly weapon upon his or her own premises; nor shall anything herein prevent a person from carrying any firearm, unloaded, from the place of purchase to his or her home, residence or place of business or to a place of repair and back to his or her home, residence or place of business, nor shall anything herein prohibit a person from possessing a firearm while hunting in a lawful manner or while traveling from his or her home, residence or place of business to a hunting site and returning to his or her home, residence or place of business;

(2) Any person who is a member of a properly organized target-shooting club authorized by law to obtain firearms by purchase or requisition from this state, or from the United States for the purpose of target practice, from carrying any pistol, as defined in this article, unloaded, from his or her home, residence or place of business to a place of target practice and from any place of target practice back to his or her home, residence or place of business, for using any such weapon at a place of target practice in training and improving his or her skill in the use of the weapons;

(3) Any law-enforcement officer or law-enforcement official as defined in section one, article twenty-nine, chapter thirty of this code;

(4) Any employee of the West Virginia division of corrections duly appointed pursuant to the provisions of section five, article five, chapter twenty-eight of this code while the employee is on duty;

(5) Any member of the armed forces of the United States or the militia of this state while the member is on duty;

(6) Any circuit judge, including any retired circuit judge designated senior status by the supreme court of appeals of West Virginia, magistrate, prosecuting attorney, assistant prosecuting attorney or a duly appointed investigator employed by a prosecuting attorney;

(7) Any probation officer appointed under the provisions of section five, article twelve, chapter sixty-two of this code;

(8) Any resident of another state who has been issued a license to carry a concealed weapon by a state or a political subdivision which has entered into a reciprocity agreement with this state shall be exempt from the licensing requirements of section four of this article. The governor may execute reciprocity agreements on behalf of the state of West Virginia with states or political subdivisions which have similar gun permitting laws and which recognize and honor West Virginia licenses issued pursuant to section four of this article.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow magistrates to carry a concealed weapon.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.