Senate Bill No. 412
(By Senators Schoonover and Wiedebusch)
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[Introduced February 17, 1995; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section four, article seven, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to procedures for licensing persons to carry any dangerous weapons; and criminal penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section four, 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.

§61-7-4. License to carry deadly weapons; how obtained.

(a) Any person desiring to obtain a state license to carry a concealed deadly weapon shall apply to the sheriff of his or her county for such license and shall pay to the sheriff, at the time of application, a filing fee of twenty dollars. The applicant shall file with the sheriff a written application on a form prepared by the state tax commissioner, duly verified, which sets forth the following:
(1) That the applicant is a citizen of the United States of America or lawfully resides in the United States of America;
(2) That, on the date the application is made, the applicant is a bona fide resident of this state and of the county in which the application is made;
(3) That the applicant is eighteen years of age or older;
(4) That the applicant is not addicted to alcohol, a controlled substance or a drug, and is not an unlawful user thereof;
(5) That the applicant has not been convicted of a felony or of an act of violence involving the misuse of a deadly weapon;
(6) That the applicant is not under indictment for a felony nor has he or she been adjudicated to be mentally incompetent;
(7) That the applicant desires to carry a deadly weapon for the defense of self, family, home or state, or other lawful purpose;
(8) That in the case of a person applying for a license to carry a concealed pistol or revolver, the applicant is physically and mentally competent to carry such deadly weapon;
(9) That in the case of a person applying for a license to carry a concealed pistol or revolver, the applicant has qualified under the minimum requirements set forth in subsection (b) of this section for handling and firing such firearms: Provided, That the court shall waive this requirement in the case of a renewal applicant who has previously qualified;
(10) That the applicant authorizes the sheriff of the county, or his or her designee, to conduct an investigation relative only to that information contained in the application and the sheriff is hereby required to conduct such investigation which shall verify that the information set forth in the application is true and correct.
(b) The minimum requirements for handling and firing a revolver or pistol are:
(1) Successful completion of any official national rifle association firearms safety or training course;
(2) Successful completion of any firearms safety or training course or class available to the general public offered by an official law-enforcement organization, community college, junior college, college or private or public institution or organization or firearms training school, utilizing instructors currently certified by the national rifle association;
(3) Successful completion of any firearms training or safety course or class conducted by a firearms instructor certified as such by the state or by the national rifle association; or
(4) Successful completion of any handgun training or safety course or class conducted by any branch of the United States armed forces.
A photocopy of a certificate of completion of any of the courses or classes or an affidavit from the instructor, school, club, organization or group that conducted or taught said course or class attesting to the successful completion of the course or class by the applicant or a copy of any document which shows successful completion of the course or class, constitutes evidence of qualification under this section.
(c) The sheriff shall issue or deny such license within thirty days after the application is filed. If it appears that the purpose for such person to carry such weapon is defense of self, family, home or state, or other lawful purpose, and if the information in the application is found to be true and correct, the sheriff shall issue such license.
(d) If an application is approved, the sheriff shall require that before any license be issued or become effective, that the applicant pay to the sheriff a fee in the amount of fifty dollars upon issuance of such license. Any such license shall be valid for five years, unless sooner revoked.
(e) In the event an application is denied, the specific reasons for the denial shall be stated by the sheriff denying the application. Any person denied a license by a sheriff may file, in the circuit court of the county in which the application was made, a petition seeking review of the denial. Such petition shall be filed within thirty days of the denial. The court shall determine whether the sheriff's action in denying the issuance of a license is supported by a preponderance of the evidence. The applicant may be represented by counsel, but in no case shall the court be required to appoint counsel for an applicant. The final order of the court shall include the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law. If the final order upholds the denial, the applicant may file an appeal in accordance with the rules of appellate procedure of the supreme court of appeals.
(f) In the event a license is lost or destroyed, the person to whom the license was issued may obtain a duplicate or substitute license for a fee of ten dollars by filing a notarized statement with the sheriff indicating that the license has been lost or destroyed.
(g) Any amounts collected by the sheriff pursuant to this section shall be deposited in a separate account of the county general fund and used by the sheriff for the expenses of providing the services herein described. Any surplus funds that remain in this separate account on the last day of the fiscal year, and have not been expended for the purposes herein described, shall revert to the county general fund.
(h) The sheriff shall, immediately after the license is granted as aforesaid, furnish the superintendent of the division of public safety a certified copy of such license for which service the clerk shall be paid a fee of two dollars. It shall be the duty of the sheriff to furnish to the superintendent of the division of public safety, at any time so requested, a certified list of all such licenses issued in the county.
(i) No person who is engaged in the receipt, review or in the issuance of such license shall incur any civil liability as the result of the lawful performance of his or her duties under this article.

NOTE: This bill revises definitions, criminal penalties and procedures relating to licensing persons to carry dangerous weapons.

§61-7-4 has been rewritten; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.