Senate Bill No. 167
(By Senator Wooton)
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[Introduced January 11, 2002; 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 authorizing
parole officers to carry concealed weapons without
obtaining license.
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, 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 parole officer appointed under the provisions of
section fourteen, article twelve, chapter sixty-two of this
code;
(8) (9) 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;
(9) (10) Any federal law-enforcement officer or federal
police officer authorized to carry a weapon in the performance
of the officer's duty; and
(10) (11) Any Hatfield-McCoy regional recreation authority
ranger while the ranger is on duty.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to add parole officers
to the list of persons who may carry a concealed weapon without
obtaining a license.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.