West Virginia Concealed Carry Permit Fees and Costs

West Virginia Concealed Handgun License Fees and Costs

The short answer

Carrying a concealed handgun in West Virginia does not require paying the state anything. Under W. Va. Code § 61-7-7(c), any person who is at least 18 years of age, a United States citizen or legal resident, not prohibited from possessing a firearm under that section, and not prohibited under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) or (n) may carry a concealed deadly weapon without a license. That is the baseline, and its price is zero. A concealed handgun license is an optional purchase on top of that, bought for what it does that carrying without one does not.

The two license types are not worth the same, which matters when weighing whether $30 in provisional fees buys anything. W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a(h) requires the provisional card to state "NOT NICS EXEMPT" and that the license "does not satisfy the requirements of 18 U. S. C. §922(t)(3)." The Attorney General's booklet states that optional licenses issued on or after June 4, 2014 qualify as an alternative to a NICS check when buying from a dealer, and that provisional licenses do not.

If you want the license, the code fixes the price. A West Virginia resident who is 21 or older, the age floor in W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(b)(3), pays a fee of $50 to the sheriff at the time of application. A legal resident or citizen of another state pays $100 to whichever West Virginia sheriff takes the application. Those two amounts are set by W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(a)(1) and § 61-7-4(a)(2). An applicant aged 18 to 20 who wants a provisional license pays $15 at application and another $15 before the license issues, under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a(a) and § 61-7-4a(g).

What the code charges

A license under either statute may be issued only for pistols and revolvers. See W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(a)(1) and § 61-7-4a(a).

Where your money goes

The code, not the sheriff, sets the split, which is why the price is not negotiable at the counter.

• On a resident license, $25 goes to the State Treasury credited to the account of the State Police, and $25, along with any fees for replacement of lost or stolen licenses, goes into a concealed weapons license administration fund the sheriff administers. See W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(d)(1).
• On a nonresident license, $15 goes to the Courthouse Facilities Improvement Fund, $25 to the State Police account for vehicles, vehicle equipment, and vehicle maintenance, and $60 to the concealed weapons license administration fund. See W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(d)(2).
• On a provisional license, $15 of the application fee, along with any fees for replacement of lost or stolen provisional licenses, goes into the concealed weapons license administration fund, per W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a(c). The second $15, the one paid before issuance, is forwarded by the sheriff to the Superintendent of the West Virginia State Police within 30 days of receipt, per W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a(g).

Published state figures do not all agree, and the code controls

Several state-published documents describe the license fees in terms that do not match what W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(a) and § 61-7-4a set out, so you may be quoted something other than the table above.

The West Virginia State Police application packet for form WVSP 44A instructs the applicant to present the form to the sheriff with a $25 application fee, then pay an additional $25 if the license is approved and issued, with that second $25 forwarded to the State Police Concealed Weapon Registry within 30 days. The application page in that packet is stamped Rev. 05/2024. The instruction page carrying those fees is stamped Rev. 07/2020. The two payments add to the same $50 a resident owes under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(a)(1). Expect the possibility of being asked for money twice rather than once.

The Attorney General's On the Mark concealed handgun license booklet answers its own question about cost with a $75 payment at application plus $25 before issuance, while the statutory text reprinted later in that same booklet reads $50 and $100, matching the code as published by the Legislature. The July 2024 edition of the booklet answered the same question with $25 plus $25.

The Attorney General's gun reciprocity FAQ page is a separate state answer, and it reaches the provisional fees too. It repeats the $75 plus $25 for the optional license, then states that those fees are reduced to $25 to the sheriff and $15 to the State Police for provisional licenses. The code sets $15 to the sheriff at application and $15 before issuance, under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a(a) and § 61-7-4a(g). The July 2024 booklet edition states the provisional split as $15 and $15, which is what the code reads.

Where an agency answer and the code disagree, the code is the law. Call the sheriff's office where you will file and ask what it collects, in what form of payment, and at which step.

Who is exempt from the license fees

Two separate provisions waive fees, and they are not written to the same width.

W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(q). With respect to an application for a resident license, an honorably discharged veteran of the armed forces of the United States, reserve, or National Guard, and a former law enforcement officer honorably retired from agencies governed by W. Va. Code § 7-14-1 et seq., § 8-14-1 et seq., § 15-2-1 et seq., and § 20-7-1 et seq., are exempt from payment of fees and costs otherwise required by that section. The Attorney General's booklet describes those agencies as the State Police, deputy sheriffs, municipal police officers, and law enforcement officers of the Division of Natural Resources. Two limits are written into that sentence: it runs to a resident license application, and it waives fees and costs required by that section. The same subsection states that all other application and background check requirements still apply.

W. Va. Code § 61-7-6. This section, titled "Exemptions from licensing fees," is a flat list of eight paragraphs. They exempt any justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, any circuit judge, any retired justice or retired circuit judge designated senior status by that court, any family court judge, any magistrate, any prosecuting attorney, any assistant prosecuting attorney, and any duly appointed investigator employed by a prosecuting attorney. The exemption reaches "any application fees or licensure fees required under this article," which is broader wording than the section-scoped waiver in § 61-7-4(q). The section then requires these officials to make application and satisfy all licensure and handgun safety and training requirements set out in W. Va. Code § 61-7-4. The fee is waived. The process is not.

Neither provision touches money you pay to anyone other than the sheriff. Course tuition, ammunition, range time, and a notary are outside both.

What renewal costs

The code creates no reduced renewal fee. W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(c) speaks of "both initial and renewal applications" for the background investigation, and the fee subsection sets one amount per license type without carving out renewals. A renewing resident is looking at the same $50 and a renewing nonresident at the same $100.

The renewal saving is in training, not in the fee. W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(b)(11) requires the applicant to have qualified under the live fire minimums, then adds that this requirement is waived for a renewal applicant who has previously qualified. A newly issued license, subject to revocation for cause, is valid for five years from the licensee's most recent birthday, under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(h).

One renewal trap sits in the address rules. If a resident licensee moves out of state, the sheriff issues a new nonresident license carrying the original expiration date for a fee not to exceed $5, and W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(m)(2) provides that any renewal of that license in the new jurisdiction after expiration requires payment of a nonresident license fee. A $5 card swap now means the nonresident fee, $100 under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(a)(2), at renewal later.

A provisional license is not renewed. It is valid until the licensee turns 21, unless sooner revoked, under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a(g). After that the holder may keep carrying without a license under W. Va. Code § 61-7-7(c), as they could at 18, or apply for a standard license at the resident or nonresident fee.

Training prices are set by instructors, not by the code

Every applicant for either license must complete a training course in handling and firing a handgun that includes the actual live firing of ammunition by the applicant. That requirement is in W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(e) for the standard license and § 61-7-4a(d) for the provisional license, and both list the qualifying course families, including an official National Rifle Association handgun safety or training course, a course available to the general public through a law enforcement organization or an educational institution, and a course taught by an instructor certified by the state or by the NRA. Each statute adds a military route, and the two are not written the same way. W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(e)(4) takes a course conducted by a branch of the United States military, reserve, or National Guard, or proof of other handgun qualification received while serving. W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a(d)(4) takes proof of current or former service in the United States armed forces, armed forces reserves, or National Guard by itself.

Neither statute sets a tuition, caps one, or requires a course to fold ammunition or range fees into its price. What you pay is what the instructor charges, and the components that move the total are whether live fire ammunition, targets, and range time sit inside the course price or get billed on top. Ask a prospective instructor what the price covers and what it excludes before you register, and do not budget from a figure quoted for a different state or a different year.

The training tax credit

West Virginia offsets part of the training bill through the tax code. Under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(s), a person who pays fees for training or application under this article after the effective date of the section is entitled to a tax credit equal to the amount actually paid for training, capped so that it does not exceed $50. The same subsection adds that if the training was provided free or for less than that amount, the credit may instead be applied to the fees associated with the initial application. Keep the receipt from the instructor and the sheriff's office. The subsection does not name a form or a filing procedure, so confirm the mechanics with the state tax authority or whoever prepares your return.

Notarization and the license card

Every standard license application must be notarized by a notary public licensed under W. Va. Code § 39-4-1 et seq., per W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(f), and every provisional application must be notarized as well, per W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a(e). Neither statute sets what a notary may charge.

The sheriff provides each new licensee a duplicate wallet-size card that counts as a license and carries a photograph of the licensee, under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(i) and § 61-7-4a(h). Neither section attaches a charge to the photograph or the card.

The background check carries no separate statutory fee

W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(c) requires the sheriff to run a nationwide criminal background check consisting of inquiries of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, the West Virginia criminal history record responses, and the National Interstate Identification Index, with the provisional equivalent at W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a(b). Neither subsection sets a separate charge for that work, and neither describes a fingerprint step. Twenty-five dollars of the resident fee is credited to the account of the State Police under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(d)(1). That subsection does not say what the State Police share pays for. If an office says it collects anything beyond the amounts in the table above, ask which provision it is charging under.

If your application is denied

The sheriff must issue, reissue, or deny within 45 days after the application is filed once the required background checks are completed, under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(g), with the same deadline for provisional applications at § 61-7-4a(f). A denial must state its specific reasons, under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(k) and § 61-7-4a(j).

Nothing in W. Va. Code § 61-7-4, § 61-7-4a, or § 61-7-5 provides for a refund of an application fee on denial or on later revocation. A license is deemed revoked when the licensee becomes unable to meet the criteria for initial licensure, and it must be surrendered immediately to the issuing sheriff, under W. Va. Code § 61-7-5. Plan on the fee being spent once it is paid.

You do have a cost recovery route if the denial was wrong. Under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(k), a person denied a license may petition the circuit court of the county where the application was made within 30 days of the denial, and if the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law fail to uphold the denial, the applicant may be entitled to reasonable costs and attorney's fees payable by the sheriff's office that issued the denial. The provisional license carries the same review provision at W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a(j).

Does the county change the price?

No. The amounts above come from the code and apply statewide, and the nonresident applicant may apply to a sheriff of any county under W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(a)(2). What the code leaves open is administrative: which payment methods an office accepts, and whether it collects the standard license fee in one payment or in the two steps the WVSP 44A form describes. Confirm both with the office where you will file.

Key statutes