2006 Code of Virginia § 18.2-287.4 - Carrying loaded firearms in public areas prohibited; penalty

18.2-287.4. Carrying loaded firearms in public areas prohibited; penalty.

It shall be unlawful for any person to carry a loaded (a) semi-automaticcenter-fire rifle or pistol that expels single or multiple projectiles byaction of an explosion of a combustible material and is equipped at the timeof the offense with a magazine that will hold more than 20 rounds ofammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer orequipped with a folding stock or (b) shotgun with a magazine that will holdmore than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered onor about his person on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, publicright-of-way, or in any public park or any other place of whatever naturethat is open to the public (i) in any city with a population of 160,000 ormore or (ii) in any county having an urban county executive form ofgovernment or any county or city surrounded thereby or adjacent thereto or inany county having a county manager form of government.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to law-enforcement officers,licensed security guards, military personnel in the performance of theirlawful duties, or any person having a valid concealed handgun permit or toany person actually engaged in lawful hunting or lawful recreational shootingactivities at an established shooting range or shooting contest. Any personviolating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1misdemeanor.

The exemptions set forth in 18.2-308 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to theprovisions of this section.

(1991, c. 570; 1992, c. 790; 2003, c. 976; 2004, c. 995; 2005, c. 160.)