Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 2024 ‘Firearm Prohibitions in West Virginia.’ Who Can Have a Gun. San Francisco, CA: Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 5 May
Relevant contents
Prohibited Purchasers Generally in West Virginia
Federal law prohibits certain persons from purchasing or possessing firearms, such as felons, certain domestic abusers, and certain people with a history of mental illness.
West Virginia provides that, subject to certain limited exceptions, no person shall possess a firearm if he or she:
- Has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;
- Is habitually addicted to alcohol;
- Is an unlawful user of or habitually addicted to any controlled substance;
- Has been adjudicated as a mental defective;
- Has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution;
- Is an illegal alien or otherwise unlawfully in the United States;
- Has been discharged from the armed forces under dishonorable conditions; or
- Falls within the categories of domestic abusers prohibited from possessing firearms under state law…
Any person who knowingly sells, rents, gives, or lends or, where the person is other than a natural person, knowingly permits an employee thereof to knowingly sell, rent, give or lend any deadly weapon to a prohibited purchaser/possessor is criminally liable for a felony.
West Virginia allows any of the prohibited purchasers listed above to petition the circuit court of the county in which he or she resides to regain the eligibility to possess a firearm. However, in 2008, West Virginia enacted a law specifically allowing persons prohibited from possessing a firearm for mental health reasons to regain their firearm eligibility. A law that West Virginia enacted in 2012 provides additional requirements for persons prohibited from firearm possession due to mental health history when petitioning for relief from disability…
[Editor's note: The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence regularly updates its webpages with new data as US gun regulation evolves state by state. For the most up-to-date information on US gun laws, please refer to the Giffords URL below]