---
type: "Bill"
title: "Concealed handgun; retired conservation officers may carry."
description: "Adds conservation officers retired from the Department of Conservation and Recreation to the list of retired persons eligible to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. This bill is identical to"
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2017"
identifier: "HB 2308"
citation: "Virginia HB 2308 (2017)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Crimes and Offenses Generally", "Police", "Weapons"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Thomas C. Wright, Jr."]
version_count: 3
action_count: 22
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2017-01-12"
last_action: "2017-02-20"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/da380868-c1cf-4f85-afe7-48b8c2c5e277"
source_url: "http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+sum+HB2308"
source_hash: "f902511b10e8df7da2d53b21092f4eb4fd48839ed285823f9fd668efa613bc6b"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 2308 (2017) — Concealed handgun; retired conservation officers may carry.

Adds conservation officers retired from the Department of Conservation and Recreation to the list of retired persons eligible to carry a concealed handgun without a permit. This bill is identical to

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0101)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+CHAP0101)
2. **House: Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB2308ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2308ER)
3. **House: Presented and ordered printed 17103295D** (committee substitute) — [source](http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?171+ful+HB2308)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **5–0** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Courts of Justice with amendments — **15–0** (pass) · legislature
- Passed Senate with amendments — **39–0** (pass) · legislature
- Read third time and passed House — **74–25** (pass) · legislature
- Senate amendments agreed to by House — **84–10** (pass) · legislature
- Reported from Militia, Police and Public Safety — **15–4** (pass) · legislature
- Constitutional reading dispensed — **40–0** (pass) · legislature

## Sponsors

- Thomas C. Wright, Jr. — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-12** Presented and ordered printed 17103295D `introduction`
- **2017-01-12** Referred to Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-17** Assigned MPPS sub: #1 `referral-committee`
- **2017-01-23** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2017-01-24** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2017-01-25** Read third time and passed House (74-Y 25-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2017-01-26** Constitutional reading dispensed
- **2017-01-26** Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice `referral-committee`
- **2017-02-08** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2017-02-08** Reading of amendments waived
- **2017-02-08** Committee amendments agreed to
- **2017-02-08** Reading of amendments waived
- **2017-02-08** Amendments by Senator Obenshain agreed to `amendment-passage`
- **2017-02-08** Engrossed by Senate as amended
- **2017-02-10** Placed on Calendar
- **2017-02-10** Senate amendments agreed to by House (84-Y 10-N)
- **2017-02-13** Enrolled
- **2017-02-13** Signed by Speaker
- **2017-02-13** Signed by President
- **2017-02-14** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on 2/14/17
- **2017-02-14** Governor's Action Deadline Midnight, February 21, 2017
- **2017-02-20** Approved by Governor-Chapter 101 (effective 7/1/17) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/da380868-c1cf-4f85-afe7-48b8c2c5e277`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).