West Virginia Board of Medicine Investigators May Now Be Carrying Concealed Firearms
April 27, 2022
By: John Mark Huff
In its most recent legislative session, the West Virginia Legislature passed a law, which was subsequently signed by Governor Justice, that will allow investigators with the West Virginia Board of Medicine to carry a concealed firearm.[1] This is a new law that will create a new statutory section in the West Virginia Medical Practice Act, which is codified at W. Va. Code 30-3-1, et seq. According to the new statutory section, the West Virginia Board of Medicine “may allow…an investigator employed or contracted by the board to carry a concealed firearm while performing his or her official duties.”[2]
The investigator must be employed or contracted by the board and “may carry a concealed firearm while performing his or her official duties solely for the purposes of defense of self or others if the investigator has” satisfied four requirements.[3] First, the investigator must have been approved to carry the concealed firearm “by a majority vote of the board.”[4] Second, it must be determined that the investigator is not “prohibited from possessing a firearm under state or federal law.”[5] Third, the investigator must obtain and maintain “a concealed handgun license pursuant to” W. Va. Code § 61-7-1, et seq.[6]
Fourth, the investigator must have “[s]uccessfully completed a firearms training and certification program equivalent to that provided to officers attending an entry level law-enforcement certification course provided at the West Virginia State Police Academy.”[7] Further, “[t]he investigator must thereafter successfully complete an annual firearms qualification course equivalent to that required of certified law-enforcement officers as established by legislative rule.”[8] Moreover, “[t]he board may reimburse the investigator for the cost of the training and requalification.”[9]
This new statutory section also provides that “the state, a political subdivision, an agency, [or] an employee of the state acting in an official capacity may [not] be held personally liable for an act of an investigator employed by the board if the act or omission was done in good faith while the investigator was performing official duties on behalf of the board.”[10] It is important that physicians, hospitals, and outpatient centers be aware that an investigator from the West Virginia Board of Medicine may be carrying a concealed firearm into their facility and likewise may be carrying a concealed firearm if they are meeting with a physician individually once this law goes into effect on June 6, 2022.
[1] W. Va. Code § 30-3-19.
[2] W. Va. Code § 30-3-19(a).
[3]W. Va. Code § 30-3-19(b).
[4] W. Va. Code § 30-3-19(b)(1).
[5] W. Va. Code § 30-3-19(b)(2).
[6] W. Va. Code § 30-3-19(b)(3).
[7] W. Va. Code § 30-3-19(b)(4).
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] W. Va. Code § 30-3-19(c).