SB 515 Text

Enrolled Version - Final Version Senate Bill 515 History

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SB515 SUB1 enr ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 515
(Senators Kessler and Barnes, original sponsors)
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[Passed March 13, 2010; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §61-7-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the unlawful purchase or sale firearms prohibiting the purchase or attempt to purchase a firearm from a firearm dealer by certain persons; increasing fines and penalties for certain offenses; creating a felony offense for a person who knowingly solicits, persuades, encourages or entices a firearm or ammunition dealer or private seller to sell or transfer a firearm or ammunition under circumstances which would violate the laws of this State; making it a felony offense to procure another to knowingly solicit, persuade, encourage or entice a firearm or ammunition under circumstances which would violate the laws of this State; providing an exception for a law-enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity; and establishing criminal penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-7-10 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. DANGEROUS WEAPONS.

§61-7-10. Display of deadly weapons for sale or hire; sale to prohibited persons; penalties.

(1) A person may not publicly display and offer for rent or sale, or, where the person is other than a natural person, to knowingly permit an employee thereof to publicly display and offer for rent or sale, to any passers by on any street, road or alley, any deadly weapon. machine gun, submachine gun or other fully automatic weapon, any rifle, shotgun or ammunition for same.
(2) Any person violating the provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $5,000 or shall be confined in the county jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined, except that where the person violating the provisions of this subsection is other than a natural person, such person shall be fined not more than $10,000.
(3) A person may not knowingly sell, rent, give or lend, or, where the person is other than a natural person, to knowingly permit an employee thereof to knowingly sell, rent, give or lend, any firearm or ammunition to a person prohibited from possessing firearm or ammunition by any provision of this article or by 18 U.S.C. §922(g) or (n) or other applicable federal law.
(4) Any person who violates any of the provisions of subsection (3) of this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned in a state correctional facility for a definite term of years of not less than three years nor more than ten years, or both fined and imprisoned, except that where the person committing an offense punishable under this subsection is other than a natural person, such person shall be fined not more than $250,000.
(5) A person who knowingly solicits, persuades, encourages or entices a licensed dealer or private seller of firearms or ammunition to transfer a firearm or ammunition under circumstances which the person knows would violate the laws of this state or the United States is guilty of a felony. A person who willfully procures another to engage in conduct prohibited by this subsection shall be punished as a principal. This subsection does not apply to a law-enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity. Any person who violates the provisions of section five of subsection (5) of this section is guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned in a state correctional facility for a definite term of not less than one year nor more than five years, or both fined and imprisoned.