Private firearms transfers (i.e., transfers by individuals who are not licensed dealers) are not subject to a background check requirement in West Virginia. No person may knowingly sell, rent, give or lend a firearm to a person prohibited by federal or state law from possessing firearms.¹

West Virginia prohibits any person from publicly displaying or offering for sale or rent any firearm or ammunition where a passerby on a street, road or alley can see it.²

Moreover, any person who gives or sells to any patient legally committed to a state hospital, whether on the hospital premises or elsewhere, any firearm, is criminally liable for a misdemeanor.³

Finally, any person who gives or sells, or aids or abets any other person to give or sell, to any young person in a state youth correctional facility, whether on the premises of such institution or otherwise, any firearm, is criminally liable for a misdemeanor.⁴

See the section entitled Firearms Trafficking in West Virginia for laws aimed at gun trafficking.

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1. W. Va. Code § 61-7-10(d).[↩]
2. W. Va. Code § 61-7-10(a).[↩]
3. W. Va. Code § 27-12-3.[↩]
4. W. Va. Code § 28-1-8.[↩]