In West Virginia, where we helped to get knives added to the state’s existing preemption law for firearms in 2020, Governor Jim Justice signed HB 4782 expanding preemption to prevent municipalities from targeting protected businesses with planning and zoning ordinances more restrictive than those placed upon other businesses. It becomes effective on May 30, 2024.
Preemption prevents enforcement of existing local knife ordinances, and prohibits new ordinances, more restrictive than state law which only serve to confuse or entrap law-abiding citizens traveling within or through the state.