West Virginia § 20-2-58 Shooting across road or near building or crowd; penalty

West Virginia Statutes

§ 20-2-58 — Shooting across road or near building or crowd; penalty

West Virginia § 20-2-58

Ch. 20NATURAL RESOURCES

Art. 2WILDLIFE RESOURCES

This text of West Virginia § 20-2-58 (Shooting across road or near building or crowd; penalty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

W. Va. Code § 20-2-58 (2026).

Text

(a)In addition to any other prohibitions which may exist by law, it shall be unlawful for any person to shoot or discharge any firearms:

(1)Across or in any public road in this state, at any time;

(2)Within five hundred feet of any school or church; or

(3)Within five hundred feet of any dwelling house: Provided, That a person who is a resident of a dwelling house, and his or her authorized guest, may shoot or discharge a firearm in a lawful manner within five hundred feet of the dwelling house where the person lives, if the firearm is being discharged with the express or implied knowledge and consent of all residents of that dwelling house, and no other dwelling houses are located within five hundred feet of where the firearm is discharged; or

(4)In any state, county or municipal

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(a) In addition to any other prohibitions which may exist by law, it shall be unlawful for any person to shoot or discharge any firearms:

(1) Across or in any public road in this state, at any time;

(2) Within five hundred feet of any school or church; or

(3) Within five hundred feet of any dwelling house: Provided, That a person who is a resident of a dwelling house, and his or her authorized guest, may shoot or discharge a firearm in a lawful manner within five hundred feet of the dwelling house where the person lives, if the firearm is being discharged with the express or implied knowledge and consent of all residents of that dwelling house, and no other dwelling houses are located within five hundred feet of where the firearm is discharged; or

(4) In any state, county or municipal park in areas of which the discharge of firearms is prohibited.

(b) Any person violating this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $50 nor more than $500 or confined in jail for not more than one hundred days, or both fined and confined.

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, any person operating a gun repair shop, licensed to do business in the State of West Virginia and duly licensed under applicable federal statutes, may be exempted from the prohibition established by this section and section twelve, article seven, chapter sixty-one of this code for the purpose of test firing a firearm. The director of the Division of Natural Resources shall prescribe such rules as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the exemption under this section and section twelve, article seven, chapter sixty-one and shall ensure that any person residing in any dwelling home within five hundred feet of such gun repair shop be given an opportunity to protest the granting of such exemption.

(d) The provisions of this section are not applicable to indoor shooting ranges the owner or operator of which holds all necessary and required licenses and the shooting range is in compliance with all applicable state, county, municipal laws, rules or ordinances regulating the design and operation of such facilities.