Office of Attorney General

CRIMES AND OFFENSES GENERALLY: CRIMES INVOLVING HEALTH AND
SAFETY - OTHER ILLEGAL WEAPONS.

Collectors of antique firearms may purchase such firearms without
restriction. Curios and relics are not included in exception to one
handgun a month purchase restriction. Any person possessing federal
firearm curio and relic license may not purchase more than one such
handgun in any 30-day period.

The Honorable H. Morgan Griffith 

Member, House of Delegates 
 
February 17, 1997

     You ask whether any person who possesses a federal firearm
curio and relic license [footnote 1] is subject to the one handgun
a month purchase restriction in section 18.2308.2:2(Q) of the Code
of Virginia.

     Section 18.2308.2:2(Q) states that it is "unlawful for any
person who is not a licensed firearms dealer to purchase more than
one handgun within any thirty-day period." An exception to this
prohibition is "[t]he purchase of antique firearms" [footnote 2] as
defined in section 18.2308.2:2(G):

     "Antique firearm" means any firearm, including those with a
     matchlock, flintlock, percussion cap, or similar type of
     ignition system, manufactured in or before 1898 and any
     replica of such a firearm if such replica (i) is not designed
     or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional center-fire
     fixed ammunition or (ii) uses rimfire or conventional
     center-fire fixed ammunition which is no longer manufactured
     in the United States and which is not readily available in the
     ordinary channels of commercial trade.
 
Although the purchase of antique firearms is one of the exceptions
to the restriction in section 18.2308.2:2(Q), there is no such
exception in section 18.2308.2:2(Q)(2) for the purchase of curios
or relics.  

     Applicable federal regulations define and regulate "antique
firearms" and "curios and relics" as separate categories. [footnote
3] It is also apparent that the General Assembly has not included
curios or relics within the statutory exemption provided for
antique firearms. A well-settled principle of statutory
construction is that "[i]f the language of a statute is plain and
unambiguous, and its meaning perfectly clear and definite, effect
must be given to it." [footnote 4] It is unnecessary to resort to
any rules of statutory construction when the language of a statute
is unambiguous. [footnote 5] In such a situation, the statute's
plain meaning and intent govern. 


     An equally well-accepted principle of statutory construction
is that the "mention of a specific item in a statute implies that
omitted items were not intended to be included within the scope of
the statute." [footnote 6]  The collection of curios and relics has
been omitted from both the definition of "antique firearm" and the
exemption to the prohibition in section 18.2308.2:2(Q). The clear
intent of the General Assembly, therefore, is to permit collectors
of antique firearms to purchase such firearms without restriction.
Collectors of curios or relics, however, are not exempted from the
general prohibition restricting the purchase of more than one such
weapon within a thirty-day period.  

     Therefore, I am of the opinion that any person who possesses
a federal firearm curio and relic license is subject to the
restriction in section 18.2308.2:2(Q) and may not purchase more
than one such handgun within any thirty-day period.       

                            FOOTNOTES

1. "Any person desiring to be licensed as a collector shall file an
application for such license with the Secretary [of the Treasury].
The application shall be in such form and contain only that
information necessary to determine eligibility as the Secretary
shall by regulation prescribe. The fee for such license shall be
$10 per year. Any license granted under this subsection shall only
apply to transactions in curios and relics." 18 U.S.C.A. section
923(b) (West Supp. 1996) (emphasis added).

     The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has developed
regulations for the issuance of a license to collectors of curios
or relics. See 27 C.F.R. ch. I, pt. 178 (1996). Section 178.11 of
the regulations separately defines the terms "antique firearm" and
"curios or relics."

2. Section 18.2308.2:2(Q)(2)(e).  

3. 27 C.F.R. ch. I, pt. 178, supra. 
 
4. Temple v. City of Petersburg, 182 Va. 418, 423, 29 S.E.2d 357,
358 (1944); 1993 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 256, 257.

5. See Ambrogi v. Koontz, 224 Va. 381, 386, 297 S.E.2d 660, 662
(1982); 1993 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 99, 100. 

6. Turner v. Wexler, 244 Va. 124, 127, 418 S.E.2d 886, 887 (1992);
see Christiansburg v. Montgomery County, 216 Va. 654, 658, 222
S.E.2d 513, 516 (1976); see also 1992 Op. Va. Att'y Gen. 145, 146.