Chap. 158.—An ACT to improve a license tax on pistols and revolvers; to regu-
late the sale thereof and of ammunition therefor; and to provide that the
proceeds of such tax shall be used for the establishment of a diseased and
crippled children’s hospital. [S B 44]

Approved March 17, 1926.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That it
shall be the duty of every person residing in this State and owning a
pistol or revolver therein, to pay on or before the first day of January
of each year a license tax of one dollar on each pistol or revolver so
owned, or in the event that such pistol or revolver shall be acquired
by any such person on or after the first day of Feburary, such license
tax shall be forthwith paid thereon. The application for the license
shall give the name of the owner, and the number, make and calibre
of such pistol or revolver, which shall be set forth in the license. All
pistol or revolver licenses shall run from the first day of January to
the first day of the following January. Such license taxes shall be
paid to the treasurer of the city or county wherein the said owner re-
sides, and the said treasurer shall not receive more for handling the
funds arising from the tax imposed by this act than he receives for
handling other State funds. The treasurers shall not receive compen-
sation for their services in issuing the license cards herein provided
for. Upon payment of the tax provided for in this section the person
paying the same shall be entitled to a license card therefor, showing
the year for which the license is paid, the county or city issuing the
card, the serial number of the license, and the number, calibre, make
and owner of the pistol or revolver. When the license card is issued
the treasurer shall record the name of the. owner of the pistol or re-
volver, and the number, calibre and make thereof with the number of
the license, in a book prepared for the purpose. The license cards
and book shall be furnished by the boards herein provided and shall
be paid out of the funds derived from the pistol and revolver licenses.
If any such card should be lost the owner of the card shall pay to the
treasurer twenty-five cents for a duplicate card.

2.. It shall be the duty of every retailer selling a pistol or revolver
in this State, at the time of such sale, to keep a record of the name and
address of the purchaser and the number, make and calibre of the
pistol or revolver, and to report once a month to the treasurer of his
county or city the names of such purchasers, if any, together with the
number, make and calibre of each pistol or revolver purchased; and
all persons receiving or having in their possession a pistol or revolver
for the purpose of repairing the same shall report to the treasurer of
his county or city once a month giving the name and address of the
owner and the calibre, make and serial number of such pistol or re-
volver.

3. It shall be unlawful for any retailer in this State to sell ammu-
nition for any pistol or revolver to any person unless the person de-
siring to make such purchase displays the license card for the current
year provided for in this act.

4. Any person violating any provision of this act or using a li-
cense card not issued to him, for the purpose of purchasing ammuni-
tion, or using a license card for the purchase of pistol or revolver am-
munition unless the ammunition is intended to be used for the weapon
mentioned in the license card shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and
upon conviction shall be fined not less than twenty-five nor more than
fifty dollars, or sentenced to the State convict road force for not less
than thirty or not more than sixty days, or both, in the discretion of
the tribunal trying the case.

5. The provisions of this act shall not apply to any officer auth-
orized by law to carry a pistol or revolver nor to the pistol or revolver
of such officer when such pistol or revolver is carried in discharge of
his official duty, except that every officer shall list his pistol or revolver
with the treasurer of his county or city annually by January first; nor
to a pistol of an obsolete type kept as a souvenir, memento or relic,
such as cap and ball type, etcetera, or souvenir used or captured by any
person or relative in any war. But such pistol shall be registered as
herein provided, upon satisfactory proof to the officer issuing such
license that the pistol in question comes properly within this excep-
tion, in which case, no license tax shall be charged.

6. The tax hereby imposed shall be in lieu of all other taxes on
such pistols and revolvers; but nothing in this act shall be construed
to apply to such weapons in the stocks of licensed wholesaler or re-
tailers.

7. All funds arising from pistol and revolver licenses, except as
hereinbefore provided, shall be kept separate from other funds and
shall be paid into the State treasury to establish a fund known as t§e
diseased and crippled children’s hospital fund, which shall be used for
the purpose of establishing and maintaining within the State at such
place or places as may be selected by the board hereinafter provided
for, a hospital or hospitals for the care, treatment and vocational
training of diseased and crippled children resident in Virginia, or for
any such rehabilitation work that the board may deem wise.

Each treasurer shall between the first and fifteenth of July and
between the first and fifteenth of January report to the auditor of
public accounts collections, which he is required to make by this act,
and shall at the same time pay into the State treasury the amount
collected less the commissions which he is authorized to retain for
collecting same as provided for in this act, and the auditor of public
accounts shall keep said funds separate from other funds to be desig-
rated and known as ‘“‘the diseased and cripple children’s hospital
fund.”

8. The administration of the aid fund shall be under the direction
of a board of seven physicians to be appointed by the governor, sub-
ject to approval by the senate; one member of the board shall be ap-
pointed from or on recommendation of the faculty of the medical de-
partment of the University of Virginia and one from or on recommen-
dation of the faculty of the Medical College of Virginia at Richmond,
of the other five members, one shall be appointed from each of the
five geographical divisions of the State. Appointments to the said
board shall be made on July first, nineteen hundred and twenty-six,
and shall be so arranged that the term of one member shall expire on
each July first from one to seven years thereafter; the successors of
the original appointees shall be appointed for seven year terms. The
governor shall have the right to remove any member of the board for
cause, and shall fill for the unexpired term any vacancy occuring on
the board. When the term of a member expires, he may succeed
himself when reappointed by the governor and confirmed by the
senate.

The board shall hold its original meeting on the call of the governor,
shall select its chairman and secretary, and shall hold future meetings
as it may provide, but not less than twice a year. The members of the
board shall serve without compensation, but shall be entitled to their
actual hotel and traveling expenses while in attendance on the meet-
ings of the board.

The board herein provided for shall be styled “‘the board of trustees
of the Virginia State diseased and crippled children’s hospital,’’ and
shall have power in such name to take, hold and subject to the ap-
proval of the governor, convey property, to contract and be con-
tracted with, and to sue and be sued.

The said board shall have the power to purchase and take such
land, to purchase or build such building or buildings, to manufacture,
buy or otherwise obtain such equipment, to employ such persons, and
to do all such other things as may be necessary to carry out the pur-
pose for which it is created as hereinabove set out. Provided, however,
that no purchase of land or buildings shall be made before approval
of the governor. It may take and hold gifts and donations from pri-
vate sources for the furtherance of the said purposes. But the said
board shall not withdraw any money from the State treasury, or obli-
gate itself to pay out any money until the fund to its credit from the
proceeds of pistol and revolver licenses or from private donation shall
have reached the sum of fifty thousand dollars.

9. The State treasurer shall make payments from the fund here-
inabove created on warrants from the auditor of pubilc accounts, is-
sued on vouchers certified by the chairman of the board hereinabove
created on authority of the board.

10. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby
repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.