24104573D
HOUSE BILL NO. 585
Offered January 10, 2024
Prefiled January 9, 2024
A BILL to amend and reenact §54.1-4200 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding a section numbered 54.1-4201.3, relating to home-based firearms dealers; prohibited near schools; penalties.
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Patron-- Mundon King
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Committee Referral Pending
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §54.1-4200 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted and that the Code of Virginia is amended by adding a section numbered 54.1-4201.3 as follows:

§54.1-4200. Definitions.

For the purpose of this chapter, unless the context requires a different meaning:

"Dealer in firearms" means (i) any person, firm, partnership, or corporation engaged in the business of selling, trading, or transferring firearms at wholesale or retail; (ii) any person, firm, partnership, or corporation engaged in the business of making or fitting special barrels, stocks, or trigger mechanisms to firearms; or (iii) any natural person that is a pawnbroker.

"Engaged in business" means as applied to a dealer in firearms a person, firm, partnership, or corporation that devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit through repetitive purchase or resale of firearms, but such term shall not involve a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms.

"Firearms show" means any gathering or exhibition, open to the public, not occurring on the permanent premises of a dealer in firearms, conducted principally for the purposes of exchanging, selling, or trading firearms as defined in §18.2-308.2:2.

"Home-based firearms dealer" means any dealer in firearms that maintains his place of business at a residence or at a location that has a residential zoning district classification.

§54.1-4201.3. Home-based firearms dealers; prohibited near schools; certain locations.

No home-based firearms dealer shall be engaged in the business of selling, trading, or transferring firearms at wholesale or retail within 1.5 miles of any elementary or middle school, including buildings and grounds.