laws.show

    "Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: That section seven of chapter one hundred and forty-eight…be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:   

    Section 7(a). If any person, without a state license therefor, carry about his person any revolver or other pistol, dirk, bowie-knife, slung shot, razor, billy, metallic or other false knuckles, or any other dangerous or deadly weapon of like kind or character, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof be confined in the county jail for a period of not less than six nor more than twelve months for the first offense; but upon conviction of the same person for the second offense in this state, he shall be guilty of a felony and be confined in the penitentiary not less than one or more than five years…

    …Any person desiring to obtain a state license to carry any such weapon within one or more counties in this state shall first publish a notice in some newspaper, published in the county in which he resides, setting forth his name, residence and occupation, and that on a certain day he will apply to the circuit court of his county for such state license; and after the publication of such notice for at least ten days before said application is made and at the time stated in said notice upon application to said court, it may grant such person a license in the following manner, to-wit:

    The applicant shall file with said court his application in writing, duly verified, which said application shall show:

    First: That said applicant is a citizen of the United States of America.     

    Second: That such applicant has been a bona fide resident of this state for at least one year next prior to the date of such application, and of the county sixty days next prior thereto.

    Third: That such applicant is over twenty-one years of age; that he is a person of good moral character, of temperate habits, not addicted to intoxication, and has not been convicted of a felony nor of any offense involving the use on his part of such weapon in an unlawful manner.     

    Fourth: The purpose or purposes for which the applicant desires to carry such weapon and the necessity therefor and the county or counties in which said license is desired to be effective. Upon the hearing of such application the court shall hear evidence upon all matters stated in such application…but before the said license shall be effective such person shall pay to the sheriff, and the court shall so certify in its order granting the license, the sum of twenty dollars, and shall also file a bond with the clerk of said court, in the penalty of three thousand five hundred dollars…conditioned that such applicant will not carry such weapon except in accordance with his said application and as authorized by the court, and that he will pay all costs and damages accruing to any person by the accidental discharge or improper, negligent or illegal use of said weapon or weapons. Any such license granted after this act becomes effective shall be good for one year, unless sooner revoked, as hereinafter provided, and be co-extensive with the county in which granted, and such other county or counties as the court shall designate in the order granting such license; except that regularly appointed deputy sheriffs having license shall be permitted to carry such revolver or other weapons at any place, within the state, while in the performance of their duties as such deputy sheriffs and except that any such license granted to regularly appointed railway police shall be co-extensive with the state…

Provided, that nothing herein shall prevent any person from carrying any such weapon, in good faith and not for a felonious purpose, upon his own premises, nor shall anything herein prevent a person from carrying any such weapon (unloaded) from the place of purchase to his home or place of residence, or to a place of repair and back to his home or residence; but nothing herein shall be construed to authorize any employee of any person, firm or corporation doing business in this state to carry on or about the premises of such employer any such pistol, or other weapon mentioned in this act for which a license is herein required, without having first obtained the license and given the bond as herein provided…

    …provided, further, that in case of riot, public danger and emergency, a justice of the peace, or other person issuing a warrant, may authorize a special constable and his posse whose names shall be set forth in said warrant, to carry weapons for the purpose of executing a process, and a sheriff in such cases may authorize a deputy or posse to carry weapons, but the justice shall write in his docket the cause and reasons for such authority and the name of the person, or persons, so authorized, and index the same, and the sheriff or other officer shall write out and file with the clerk of the county court the reasons and causes for such authority and the name, or names of the persons so authorized, and the same shall always be open to public inspection, and such authority shall authorize such special constable, deputies and posses to carry weapons in good faith only for the specific purposes and times named in such authority, and upon the trial of every indictment the jury shall inquire into the good faith of the person attempting to defend such indictment under the authority granted by any such justice, sheriff or other officer, and any such person or persons so authorized shall be personally liable for the injury caused to any person by the negligent or unlawful use of any such weapon or weapons...

    … It shall be unlawful for any person armed with a pistol, gun, or other dangerous or deadly weapon, whether licensed to carry same or not, to carry, expose, brandish, or use, such weapon in a way or manner to cause, or threaten, a breach of the peace…

    … Any circuit court granting any such license to carry any of the weapons mentioned in this act, the governor, or the superintendent of the department of public safety, with the con sent of the governor, may, for any cause deemed sufficient by said court, or by the governor or by the superintendent of the department of public safety with the approval of the governor aforesaid, as the case may be, revoke any such license to carry a pistol or other weapon mentioned in this act for which a license is required, and immediate notice of such revocation shall be given such licensee in person, by registered mail or in the same manner as provided by law for the service of other notices, and no person whose license has been so revoked shall be re-licensed within one year thereafter; provided, that the authority so revoking such license may, after a hearing, sooner reinstate such licensee."

Full Text: 1925, WV, Acts of the Legislature of West Virginia, First Extraordinary Session, ch. 3


N.B. This law is too long to include in its entirety; however, to ensure the reader can easily reference any part that has been omitted, the full text of the chapter is included in the link above. 


First Extraordinary Session in Acts of the Legislature of west Virginia: Regular and First Extraordinary Sessions 1925 (Charlestown, WV: Tribune Printing Co., 1925), 24-32 [paginated separately]. Chapter 3—An Act to Amend and Re-Enact Section Seven of Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Eight of the Code of West Virginia, as Amended and Re-Enacted by Chapter Fifty--One of the Acts of the Legislature of West Virginia, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Nine, Regular Session, and as Further Amended and Re-Enacted by an Act of the Legislature of West Virginia, Regular Session, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-Five, Relating to Offenses Against the Peace; Providing for the Granting and Revoking of Licenses and Permits Respecting the Use, Transportation and Possession of Weapons and Fire Arms; Restricting the Manner of the Sale and Display of Weapons and Fire Arms; Imposing Liability Upon Certain Persons for the Accidental or Improper, Negligent or Illegal Discharges of Weapons and Fire Arms; Defining the Powers and Duties of Certain Officers in the Granting and Revocation of Said Licenses and Permits, and Providing Penalties for the Violation of This Act and Any Part Thereof, §§ 7(a)-7(b). Passed June 5, 1925.