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CRIMINAL PROCEDURE. CONSERVATOR OF THE PEACE. FEDERAL PARK RANGER CONSERVATOR OF THE PEACE UNDER 19.2-12, IF DESIGNATED AS SPECIAL AGENT OF UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR

January 10, 1986

The Honorable Douglas S. Vaught

Commonwealth’s Attorney for Grayson County

You ask whether (1) a federal park ranger is a conservator of the peace under § 19.2-12 of the Code of Virginia, and (2) a federal park ranger is permitted to carry a concealed weapon pursuant to § 18.2-308(C)(4) outside his jurisdictional areas while on duty.

Section 19.2-12 specifies with some particularity which officers are conservators of the peace, as follows:

"Every judge throughout the State and every magistrate within the geographical area for which he is appointed or elected, shall be a conservator of the peace. In addition, every commission in chancery, while sitting as such commissioner, and any special agent of the United States Department of Justice, Department of Treasury, Department of State, and Department of Interior, any inspector and special investigator of the United States Postal Inspection Service and any United States marshal or deputy United States marshal whose duties involve the enforcement of the criminal laws of the United States, and any criminal investigator of the United States Department of Labor shall be a conservator of the peace." (Emphasis added.)  

The only category of officers in § 19.2-12 which might be applicable to a federal park ranger is that in the emphasized language in the above quotation. In my opinion, in answer to your first question, a federal park ranger would be a conservator of the peace under § 19.2-12 by virtue of his employment only if he has been designated as a special agent of the United States Department of Interior, a matter about which I am not advised. I am not aware of any other Virginia  statute which specifically makes a park ranger a conservator of the peace.   

Turning to your second question, § 18.2-308 prohibits the carrying of concealed weapons, but § l8.2-308(C)(4) states that the prohibition does not apply to conservators of the peace, with certain exceptions not applicable here. A federal park ranger would be permitted to carry a concealed weapon by virtue of § 18.2-308(C)(4) only if he is a conservator of the peace, as discussed in the answer to your first question, above.

You refer also to § 18.2-308(B)(2), which exempts "police officers" from the prohibition against the carrying of concealed weapons. Prior Opinions of this Office, in construing the predecessor statutes to § 18.2-308, have held that out-of-state police officers in Virginia on duty or on official business, and federal officers whose statutory duties expressly or impliedly require the carrying of a weapon, may carry concealed weapons in Virginia. See Reports of the Attorney General; 1971-1972 at 302; 1941-1942 at 37.  1  Consistent with those Opinions, it is my opinion that a federal park ranger may carry a concealed weapon pursuant to § 18.2-308(B)(2) outside his jurisdictional areas in Virginia while on duty if, by federal statute or regulation, he is required to carry a firearm in the discharge of his duties.

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1. Compare 1972-1973 Report of the Attorney General at 142 (law enforcement officers who are allowed to carry concealed weapons while in the discharge of official duties are not allowed to carry concealed weapons when not on duty or official business).