{"id":661275,"date":"2026-03-06T10:23:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T15:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/?p=661275"},"modified":"2026-03-06T14:27:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T19:27:17","slug":"smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/06\/smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Smith says he stopped the machine gun bill from Senate floor vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHARLESTON, W.Va.\u00a0<\/strong>— The Senate Judiciary Committee grabbed some headlines earlier this week when it passed a bill that supporters said would allow for the public sale of machine guns through the state police.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Randy Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The controversial bill passed out of committee but was never taken up on the Senate floor by the crossover day deadline.<\/p>\n

Senate President Randy Smith issued a statement Friday and said it was his decision.<\/p>\n

Here is Smith’s statement:<\/p>\n

In recent days, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the fate of Senate Bill 1071, the Creating Public Defense and Provisioning Act, also known as \u201cthe Machine Gun Bill.\u201d This bill, which was introduced in the Senate on the last possible day Senate bills could be introduced, was a poorly drafted piece of legislation provided by a gun rights group who, to my knowledge, had never been active in the West Virginia Legislature prior to this bill. After consultation with several attorneys and with membership of West Virginia\u2019s two leading and longstanding gun rights groups \u2013 the National Rifle Association and the West Virginia Citizens Defense League \u2013 I was convinced this bill as it was submitted to us would be unable to pass the House of Delegates, and would face numerous legal challenges to its implementation upon passage.<\/em><\/p>\n

Based upon those conversations, I alone decided that the Senate would not take up the bill for further consideration. I did so with no reservation. With an issue as critical as the protection of our Second Amendment rights, we must ensure the legislation we pass will survive legal challenge. This would not have.<\/em><\/p>\n

My record with the NRA and WVCDL is unquestioned, and West Virginians unquestionably trust the judgment of these groups on Second Amendment issues. And, further, I trust them.<\/em><\/p>\n

The behavior of this out-of-state group has been disappointing to say the very least. I have seen individual Senate members harassed and threatened. I have seen calls for people to show up at their homes. I\u2019ve seen people accuse the Senate of treason. It makes it very difficult to negotiate in good faith with anybody who cannot come to the table with respect.<\/em><\/p>\n

We welcome the Gun Owners of America to consider this legislation next year, but would encourage them to submit the bill before the last minute so that the Senate can give it the full, thorough, and fair vetting it deserves.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 ?Senate President Randy E. Smith, R-Preston<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate President Randy Smith releases statement. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":654978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-661275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSmith says he stopped the machine gun bill from Senate floor vote - WV MetroNews<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/06\/smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smith says he stopped the machine gun bill from Senate floor vote - WV MetroNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Senate President Randy Smith releases statement.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/06\/smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WV MetroNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"WVMetroNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-06T15:23:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-06T19:27:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com\/wvmn-s3\/2026\/01\/Randy_Smith_floor.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1088\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"701\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MetroNews Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@wvmetronews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MetroNews Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/06\/smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/06\/smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote\/\",\"name\":\"Smith says he stopped the machine gun bill from Senate floor vote - WV MetroNews\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/06\/smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/06\/smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com\/wvmn-s3\/2026\/01\/Randy_Smith_floor.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-06T15:23:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-06T19:27:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/tk-wv-metro.beforewegolive.dev\/#\/schema\/person\/083b56fd0d4d114fe49f6a8f955a2ca6\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/06\/smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/06\/smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wvmetronews.com\/2026\/03\/06\/smith-says-he-stopped-the-machine-gun-bill-from-senate-floor-vote\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com\/wvmn-s3\/2026\/01\/Randy_Smith_floor.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com\/wvmn-s3\/2026\/01\/Randy_Smith_floor.jpg\",\"width\":1088,\"height\":701,\"caption\":\"Senate President Randy Smith presides of Wednesday's opening day of the legislative session. 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