The Legislature finds that the overwhelming support of the citizens of West Virginia for article three, section twenty-two of the Constitution of this state, commonly known as the “Right to Keep and Bear Arms Amendment”, combined with the obligation of the state to reasonably regulate the right of persons to keep and bear arms for self-defense requires the reenactment of this article.
W. Va. Code § 61-7-1
Legislative findings
Applied in 14 court decisions — leading case 210 W. Va. 740 - Feliciano v. 7-Eleven, Inc. (2001)
Most recently applied in 235 W. Va. 124 - SER Scott R. Smith, Prosecuting Attorney v. Hon. David J. Sims, Judge (April 2015)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: West Virginia Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain West Virginia statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.