Smith shoots straight, takes full responsibility for stopping ‘poorly drafted’ WV machine gun bill

by Caity Coyne, West Virginia Watch
March 6, 2026

West Virginia Senate President Randy Smith released a statement Friday setting the record straight on how Senate Bill 1071 — which would have required State Police to sell machine guns to certain residents — stopped advancing through the body earlier this week.

Smith, R-Preston, said he was fully responsible for choosing not to receive a report from the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday showing that the bill had passed the committee that morning. The legislation was double referenced to the Senate Finance Committee, but since Smith chose not to receive the report, it stalled without any further consideration.

SB 1071 was first filed on Feb. 23, which was the final day for bills to be introduced in the Senate. In order to have three separate readings in the body and make it out of the chamber by crossover day — which was Wednesday — the bill would have had to pass both the Judiciary and Finance committees on Monday.

“I alone decided that the Senate would not take up the bill for further consideration (after it passed Judiciary on Monday). I did so with no reservation,” Smith said in his statement. “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.”

Smith called the proposed legislation “poorly drafted.” The bill was sponsored by Sen. Chris Rose, R-Monongalia. In the Judiciary Committee on Monday, Rose said he worked with Alex Shay, the volunteer state director for Gun Owners of America. According to Shay’s bio on the nonprofit’s website, he is a Morgantown resident.

Smith said that he spoke with “several attorneys” and with members of the National Rifle Association and the West Virginia Citizens Defense League — “the state’s two leading and longstanding gun rights groups,” per Smith — about the bill before opting to stop its progression in the Senate.

“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,” Smith said Friday.

As written, SB 1071 would have created a new Office of Public Defense, led by the superintendent of the West Virginia State Police. Under the proposed code, machine guns would have been put up for sale at every State Police headquarters in West Virginia. The director of the new office would have been required to verify all buyers with a background check.

Shay, an Army veteran who worked as a professional DJ and events planner after serving in the military, testified in favor of the bill during the Judiciary Committee meeting on Monday. He asserted that the provisions in the bill were clearly legal under federal law.

But counsel for the committee and Sens. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, and Ryan Weld, R-Brooke — both attorneys by trade — disagreed. 

Weld said the bill could have forced state troopers to operate illegally. Counsel said there was no existing case law allowing the state to transfer machine guns to private citizens. 

Since the bill stopped progressing earlier this week, Smith said he’s been “disappointed” by the behavior of the nonprofit Gun Owners of America.

“I have seen individual Senate members harassed and threatened. I have seen calls for people to show up at their homes. I’ve seen people accuse the Senate of treason,” Smith said. “It makes it very difficult to negotiate in good faith with anybody who cannot come to the table with respect.”

Gun Owners of America posted an action alert on its website on Tuesday urging people to call Smith’s office and demand that SB 1071 be brought up for a vote. The post told constituents to “remind” Smith that 93% of gun owners in West Virginia would be “less likely to support a legislator who works to kill this legislation.” No citation was included in that statistic.

Smith characterized Gun Owners of America as an “out-of-state group” that, to his knowledge, “has never been active in the West Virginia Legislature prior to this bill.” The organization, according to its website, is based out of Virginia. 

Per state campaign finance records, the nonprofit’s Political Action Committee previously donated money to Gov. Patrick Morrisey. The PAC gave the governor a total of $9,800 over two election cycles — $5,600 for his 2024 gubernatorial run and $4,200 for his 2020 attorney general reelection race.

In his statement Friday, Smith urged the Gun Owners of America to better consider the Legislature’s deadlines next time it has a proposed bill.

“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,” Smith said.

West Virginia Watch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. West Virginia Watch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Leann Ray for questions: info@westvirginiawatch.com.