ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 148
(By Senators Dittmar, Kessler, Ross and Snyder)
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[Passed March 3, 1999; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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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
such regulations 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 regulation 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.
Such 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,
such the clerk as is mentioned in section twenty-six of
said article, 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, or
the clerk of
such 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
shall have the power to 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
such 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 in 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.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit cities and
counties from restricting possession, ownership, etc. of firearms.
The bill also provides that counties and municipalities retain the
right to plan and zone for commercial use. The bill contains some
technical revisions.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)