West Virginia Concealed Carry Laws: Overview

West Virginia Concealed Carry Laws: Overview

West Virginia is a permitless carry state, and as of June 12, 2026 the age floor is 18, not 21. Under W. Va. Code § 61-7-7(c), any person may carry a concealed deadly weapon without a license who is at least 18 years of age, is a United States citizen or legal resident, is not prohibited from possessing a firearm under § 61-7-7, and is not prohibited under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) or (n). Those four conditions are the entire list in subsection (c), and nothing in it limits the permission to West Virginia residents. Place restrictions elsewhere in the code still apply.

The statute that used to criminalize unlicensed concealed carry by anyone under 21, W. Va. Code § 61-7-3, is repealed. The Attorney General's current On the Mark guide dates both changes to HB 4106, effective June 12, 2026, and any summary still built on the old 21-and-over framework is describing law that no longer applies. West Virginia also allows permitless open carry. W. Va. Const. art. III, § 22, quoted in W. Va. Code § 61-7B-2, is the state constitutional backdrop: "A person has the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of self, family, home and state, and for lawful hunting and recreational use."

Do you need a license?

"Concealed" is defined in W. Va. Code § 61-7-2 as hidden from ordinary observation so as to prevent disclosure or recognition. A person under 18 who is not married or otherwise emancipated may not possess or carry a deadly weapon, concealed or openly, under § 61-7-8, which carves out the minor's own or the family's premises, another's premises with both a parent or guardian's permission and the owner or lessee's permission, and lawful hunting and the travel to and from it. A violation puts the minor before the circuit court under the juvenile provisions at § 49-4-701 through § 49-4-725.

Who cannot possess a firearm in West Virginia

W. Va. Code § 61-7-7(a) bars firearm possession by a person who has been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment, is habitually addicted to alcohol, is an unlawful user of or habitually addicted to a controlled substance, has been adjudicated mentally incompetent or involuntarily committed, is an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States, has been discharged from the armed forces under dishonorable conditions, is subject to a qualifying domestic violence protective order, or has a qualifying misdemeanor conviction for domestic assault or battery. Violating subsection (a) is a misdemeanor carrying a fine of $100 to $1,000, or 90 days to one year in the county jail, or both.

Under § 61-7-7(d), a person barred by subsection (a) who carries a concealed firearm commits a separate felony punishable by up to three years or a $5,000 fine, or both. Under § 61-7-7(b), possession by someone convicted of a felony crime of violence, a felony sexual offense, or a qualifying felony controlled substance offense is a felony punishable by up to five years or a $5,000 fine, or both, and § 61-7-7(e) adds up to ten years or $10,000 for concealed carry by that group.

The permitless carry rule in § 61-7-7(c)(4) conditions itself on 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) and (n), so a federal disqualification takes away the state permission directly. The under-indictment prohibitor is § 922(n), not § 922(g).

The licenses that survive, and why people still get them

W. Va. Code § 61-7-4 keeps a five-year license for applicants 21 and older, issued by the sheriff of the applicant's county and good for pistols and revolvers. Nonresidents may apply to any West Virginia sheriff. The sheriff runs a nationwide background check including NICS under § 61-7-4(c), must issue, reissue, or deny within 45 days once those checks are complete under § 61-7-4(g), and must issue unless the application is incomplete, materially false, or short of a requirement. Training is required: § 61-7-4(e) accepts several named handgun courses provided the course included live firing of ammunition by the applicant.

W. Va. Code § 61-7-4a keeps a provisional license for applicants at least 18 and less than 21. It runs through the same sheriff with a parallel NICS background check under subsection (b) and live-fire training under subsection (d), and it expires when the holder turns 21 unless revoked sooner. The card must carry the words "NOT NICS EXEMPT" and must state that on the lands and waters of this state it confers the same rights as a § 61-7-4 license, except that it does not satisfy 18 U.S.C. § 922(t)(3).

Since 18-to-20-year-olds no longer need a license to carry in state, what remains is what a license unlocks:

• Travel. Other states recognize West Virginia licenses on their own terms. The permitless rule stops at the state line.
• Buying a firearm. 18 U.S.C. § 922(t)(3) lets a qualifying state permit stand in for the point-of-sale NICS check. The Attorney General's guide states that optional licenses issued on or after June 4, 2014 qualify and that provisional licenses do not.
• Campus. W. Va. Code § 18B-4-5b(a) allows concealed carry on the campus and in the buildings of a state institution of higher education only for a person holding a current and valid license, subject to the exceptions in § 18B-4-5b(b). Subsection (a) reaches only areas under the institution's custodial possession, not areas rented, leased, or under an exclusive agreement for the full-time occupancy and use of a private entity. Subsection (i) counts a § 61-7-4 license, a § 61-7-4a provisional license, and a permit recognized under § 61-7-6a. The campus authorization runs only to those holders.
• School parking lots. The exception in § 61-7-11a(b)(2)(L) for a concealed handgun kept in a vehicle at a public school runs only to a person 21 or older with a valid permit, and only with the handgun stored out of view and, when the vehicle is unoccupied, the vehicle locked and the handgun secured in a glove box or other interior compartment, a locked trunk, or a locked container securely fixed to the vehicle. Possession at a school that fits no exception in § 61-7-11a(b)(2) is the (b)(3) felony: two to ten years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both. Subsection (b)(2)(G) separately exempts a person who, as otherwise permitted by the article, possesses an unloaded firearm in a motor vehicle or leaves one in a locked motor vehicle, with no permit or age-21 condition.
• Municipal property. Under § 8-12-5a(c)(2), a municipality may not stop a valid license holder from bringing an otherwise lawfully possessed firearm into a municipally owned recreation facility and securely storing it out of view and access to others while there. Under (c)(4), a municipality may bar carry on other municipally owned property by people who hold no license.
• Federal school zones. 18 U.S.C. § 922(q)(2)(B)(ii) lifts the federal ban inside a school zone, school grounds plus 1,000 feet under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(26), for a person licensed by the state where the zone sits when that state's law requires law enforcement authorities to verify the applicant's qualification before the license issues. Permitless carry gives you nothing under that exception.

W. Va. Code § 61-7-4(a) sets the application fee at $50 for a resident license and $100 for a nonresident license, and § 61-7-4a charges $15 at application plus $15 before the provisional license issues. The Attorney General's current guide quotes a $75 payment at application and $25 before issuance for the standard license, so confirm the figure with the sheriff's office you apply to. W. Va. Code § 61-7-6 is not a source of carry exceptions. Titled Exemptions from licensing fees, it relieves a listed set of judicial officers, prosecutors, and staff of application and licensure fees and requires each of them to apply and satisfy every licensure and handgun safety and training requirement in § 61-7-4.

Where carry is still barred

The main place restrictions in West Virginia law:

• Primary and secondary schools. § 61-7-11a(b) makes it unlawful to possess a firearm or other deadly weapon on a school bus, in or on the grounds of any primary or secondary educational facility, or at a school-sponsored function during the function. A private school may adopt a written policy permitting it. The offense is a felony carrying two to ten years or a fine up to $5,000, or both.
• Courts. § 61-7-11a(g) bars firearms on the premises of a court of law including family courts. That is a misdemeanor with up to $1,000 or a year in jail, or both. Doing it with intent to commit a crime is a felony under subsection (h) carrying two to ten years or up to $5,000, or both.
• The State Capitol Complex. § 61-6-19(b) makes it unlawful to bring a deadly weapon onto the complex, with a proviso for a firearm kept in a locked vehicle out of normal view. Violation is a misdemeanor with a fine of at least $100 or up to six months in jail, or both.
• Jails and correctional facilities. § 61-5-8(c) makes unauthorized transport of a weapon onto the grounds of a jail, correctional facility, or juvenile detention facility a felony carrying two to ten years or a $1,000 to $5,000 fine, or both.
• Private property, at the owner's option. § 61-7-14(b) lets an owner, lessee, or other person charged with the care, custody, and control of real property prohibit open or concealed carry there. Refusing to relinquish the weapon or to leave when asked is a misdemeanor under subsection (c) with up to $1,000 or six months in jail, or both. The same statute, the Business Liability Protection Act, protects a lawfully possessed firearm that is out of view and locked inside or locked to a vehicle in a parking lot.

What local governments may and may not regulate

W. Va. Code § 8-12-5a(a) bars a municipality from limiting by ordinance the right to purchase, possess, transfer, own, carry, transport, sell, or store a deadly weapon, firearm, pepper spray, or ammunition in a way inconsistent with state law. Subsection (c) leaves a narrow set of powers over municipally owned or operated buildings and municipally owned recreation facilities, on the terms described above. Subsection (e) requires a municipality that enacts such an ordinance to post a clear statement of it at each entrance, and subsection (h)(1) withholds any authority to restrict otherwise lawful carry on the public streets and sidewalks of the municipality.

Self-defense and no duty to retreat

W. Va. Code § 55-7-22 gives a lawful occupant of a home or residence the right to use reasonable and proportionate force, including deadly force, against an intruder or attacker on the terms in subsection (a), with no duty to retreat. Subsection (c) extends the no-retreat rule outside the home: a person not engaged in unlawful activity who is attacked in any place he or she has a legal right to be outside of his or her home or residence may use deadly force without retreating if the person reasonably believes that he or she or another is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm from which he or she or another can only be saved by the use of deadly force. Subsection (d) creates a full and complete defense to a civil action by the intruder or attacker, and subsection (e) withdraws that defense from a person committing or fleeing a felony and from an initial aggressor who has not withdrawn. It is written as civil relief. Separately, § 61-7-17 says nothing in the weapons article abrogates or modifies the statutory and common law of defense of self or others.

Brandishing and reckless handling

Carrying lawfully is not a defense to how you handle the firearm. W. Va. Code § 61-7-11 makes it unlawful for any person armed with a firearm or other deadly weapon, licensed or not, to carry, brandish, or use it in a way or manner to cause or threaten a breach of the peace. That is a misdemeanor with a fine of $50 to $1,000 or 90 days to one year in the county jail, or both. W. Va. Code § 61-7-12 makes a wanton act with a firearm creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury a felony carrying one to five years, or up to a year in county jail at the court's discretion, or a fine of $250 to $2,500, or both.

Losing and regaining the right to possess

W. Va. Code § 61-7-7(f) lets a person barred under subsection (a) petition the circuit court where he or she resides, which may restore firearm possession on clear and convincing evidence of competence provided possession would not violate federal law. That route is closed to the subsection (b) felony categories. A bar based on a mental health adjudication or involuntary commitment goes instead through § 61-7A-5, which sets out the petition, a certificate of mental health examination dated within 30 days of filing, the clear and convincing standard, and removal from the central state mental health registry with notice to the federal background check system. Under § 61-7-7(g), an expungement, a set-aside, or an unconditional pardon lifts a conviction-based bar.

No red flag law

West Virginia has not enacted an extreme risk petition process. Article 7B, the West Virginia Second Amendment Preservation and Anti-Federal Commandeering Act, runs the other direction. W. Va. Code § 61-7B-3 defines a red flag law as one letting a person petition a court to temporarily take away another person's right to possess a firearm that West Virginia law allows the respondent to possess, and § 61-7B-5(c) bars any police department, agency, or officer of the state from enforcing an order under such a law against a person with the lawful right to possess firearms here. Domestic violence protective orders are a separate matter and do disqualify under § 61-7-7(a)(7).

Reciprocity

W. Va. Code § 61-7-6a recognizes a valid out-of-state permit for a holder who is 21 or older, has it in immediate possession, is not a West Virginia resident, and whose state has notified the Attorney General or signed a reciprocity agreement. Subsections (e) and (g) direct the State Police to keep a registry and to make a public list. The Attorney General's office publishes the current recognition information at ago.wv.gov and warns that reciprocity agreements may change at any time and without notice. The reciprocity section of this guide covers the detail. Confirm your status with the state you are traveling to.

For how any of this applies to your own circumstances, consult a lawyer admitted in West Virginia.