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2014 SESSION

14104189D
HOUSE BILL NO. 1266
Offered January 17, 2014
A BILL to amend and reenact § 18.2-288 of the Code of Virginia, and to amend § 18.2-294 to add a section numbered 18.2-295(b), relating to the machine guns being owned by a trust.
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Patron-- LaRock
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Referred to Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 18.2-288 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 18.2-288. Definitions.

When used in this article:

(1) "Machine gun" applies to any weapon which shoots or is designed to shoot automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.

(2) "Crime of violence" applies to and includes any of the following crimes or an attempt to commit any of the same, namely, murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, rape, mayhem, assault with intent to maim, disable, disfigure or kill, robbery, burglary, housebreaking, breaking and entering and larceny.

(3) "Person" applies to and includes firm, partnership, association, trust, or corporation.

2. That § 18.2-295 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 18.2-295. Registration of machine guns.

(a) Every machine gun in this Commonwealth shall be registered with the Department of State Police within twenty-four hours after its acquisition or, in the case of semi-automatic weapons which are converted, modified or otherwise altered to become machine guns, within twenty-four hours of the conversion, modification or alteration. Blanks for registration shall be prepared by the Superintendent of State Police, and furnished upon application. To comply with this section the application as filed shall be notarized and shall show the model and serial number of the gun, the name, address and occupation of the person in possession, and from whom and the purpose for which, the gun was acquired or altered. The Superintendent of State Police shall upon registration required in this section forthwith furnish the registrant with a certificate of registration, which shall be valid as long as the registrant remains the same. Certificates of registration shall be retained by the registrant and produced by him upon demand by any peace officer. Failure to keep or produce such certificate for inspection shall be a Class 3 misdemeanor, and any peace officer, may without warrant, seize the machine gun and apply for its confiscation as provided in § 18.2-296. Upon transferring a registered machine gun, the transferor shall forthwith notify the Superintendent in writing, setting forth the date of transfer and name and address of the transferee. Failure to give the required notification shall constitute a Class 3 misdemeanor. Registration data shall not be subject to inspection by the public.

(b) Any machine gun for which a certificate of registration has been issued by the Superintendent of State Police prior to July 1, 2014, is hereby declared validly registered to the person named in the certificate.