Senate Bill No. 516
(By Senators Fanning and Chafin)
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[Introduced February 9, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Natural Resources; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §20-2-56b, relating
to public shooting range permits, rules and fees; and setting
criminal and civil penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §20-2-56b, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-56b. Public shooting range permit; adherence to posted
rules; display of permit; issuance and fee;
criminal and civil penalties.
(a) For the purposes of this section, "public shooting ranges"
are those that are owned and operated by the Division of Natural
Resources for the benefit of the public.
(b) The division may issue a permit to a person to shoot or
discharge firearms at any public shooting range in the manner
prescribed by the director. The fee for the permit is $50 for West
Virginia residents and $150 for nonresidents. The permit is valid
through the last day of the calendar year in which it is issued.
The permits shall provide for the operation, development and
maintenance of the public shooting ranges.
(c) A permit is not required of the following persons:
(1) A person in possession of a valid West Virginia hunting
license;
(2) A resident exempted from the licensing requirements in
section twenty-seven of this article: Provided, that an exempted
resident under the age of fifteen years shall be accompanied and
directly supervised by a person eighteen years of age or older who
is in possession of a valid West Virginia hunting license;
(3) Any residents of West Virginia in the Armed Forces
exempted from the licensing requirements in section twenty-eight of
this article, or any person exempted from the licensing
requirements in section sixty-two of this article who is in
possession of the requisite documentation to hunt without a license
while using the public shooting range.
(d) A person shooting or discharging a firearm at a public
shooting range shall obey the posted rules of the range.
(e) Upon demand of an officer authorized to enforce the
provisions of this chapter, a person shooting or discharging a firearm at a public shooting range shall state his or her correct
name and address and shall exhibit for inspection a valid public
shooting range permit, or a valid license or other documentation
required by this section.
(f) Any person violating this section is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more
than $100. In addition to fines and costs, a person convicted of
a violation of this section shall pay a $200 civil penalty to the
division within sixty days. The civil penalty shall be collected
by the court in which the person is convicted and forwarded to the
division and deposited in the Wildlife Resources Recreation Fund
(fund 3227). All funds collected shall be used only for the
operation, development and maintenance of public shooting ranges.
NOTE: The purpose of this section is to create a permit for
use of the Division of Natural Resources' public shooting ranges to
recover the costs of maintenance and remediation of public shooting
ranges, to provide funds to create additional public shooting
ranges and to provide penalties for violation of shooting range
rules.
This section is new; therefore, underscoring and strike-
throughs have been omitted.