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1998 SESSION

989018260
HOUSE BILL NO. 1258
Offered January 26, 1998
A BILL to amend and reenact § 18.2-287.4 of the Code of Virginia, relating to carrying loaded firearms in public areas.
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Patrons-- Baskerville, Christian, Crittenden and McEachin; Senators: Lambert and Marsh
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Referred to Committee on Militia and Police
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 18.2-287.4 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 18.2-287.4. Carrying loaded firearms in public areas prohibited; penalty.

It shall be unlawful for any person to carry a loaded firearm on or about his person on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way, or in any public park or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public (i) in any city with a population of 160,000 or more or (ii) in any county having an urban county executive form of government or any county or city surrounded thereby or adjacent thereto or in any county having a county manager form of government. The provisions of this section shall not apply to law-enforcement officers, licensed security guards, military personnel in the performance of their lawful duties, or any person having a valid permit to carry such firearm or to any person actually engaged in lawful hunting or lawful recreational shooting activities at an established shooting range or shooting contest. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

For purposes of this section, "firearm" means any (i) semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol which expels a projectile by action of an explosion and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine which will hold more than twenty rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock or (ii) shotgun with a magazine which will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered. handgun or other weapon intended to propel a missile of any kind.

Any firearm carried in violation of this section may be forfeited to the Commonwealth pursuant to the provisions of § 18.2-310.

The exemptions set out in § 18.2-308 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the provisions of this section.