Tag: Gun Bill

Senate Approves Constitutional Carry Bill

Members of the West Virginia Senate voted  24 to 9 Monday to approve a bill allowing West Virginians over the age of 21 to carry a concealed weapon without a permit. 

The bill has already been approved by the House of Delegates, but Senators included changes that will now need to be reconsidered by the lower chamber before it heads to Governor Tomblin for a signature. 

As approved by the Senate, the bill gets rid of the current permitting and safety training requirements to carry a concealed weapon but keeps those programs in place for citizens who want to carry their weapons in states that have reciprocity with West Virginia.

The bill also establishes a provisional license for 18 to 21-year-olds to carry concealed. Those provisional licenses include safety training requirements. 

House Bill 4145 was amended in the Senate to remove a $100 tax credit for those who go through the permitting process even though it would not be required by code. Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump explained during a Saturday floor session such a credit would leave a millions of dollars hole in the state budget. 

The Senate’s version also creates three new felonies related to carrying concealed when they are prohibited by law or use a weapon while committing a crime. 

In a speech on the chamber floor, Democratic Sen. Corey Palumbo explained his no vote shows he stands with law enforcement officers and a majority of his constituents who opposed the relaxed concealed carry rules. Republican Sen. Kent Leonhardt argued that the bill will increase the safety of the state’s citizens.

House Bill 4145 could be taken up by the House of Delegates as soon as Tuesday. 

Senate Committee Makes Change to Concealed Carry Bill

Over two days, the Judiciary Committee considered and approved some changes to House Bill 4145. 

In its current form, the bill would remove both the permitting and safety training requirements to carry a concealed weapon in the state. It would allow 18 to 21-year-olds to obtain a provisional permit to carry concealed.

The House bill also includes increased penalties for people who unlawfully carry a gun or use a weapon to commit a crime. 

The Senate committee’s amended bill removes the $100 tax credit members of the House of Delegates included for people who go through the permitting process after the legal requirement is removed.

Wednesday, members considered an amendment presented by Senator Herb Snyder. The change would require anyone carrying concealed without a permit declare to a law enforcement officer that they had a gun when stopped or detained.

“We’ve all been contacted by a lot of people about this, but without exception the law enforcement community, the Sheriff’s Association, realizes this bill is going to pass,” Snyder told his fellow committee members. “This is the one single item repeated over and over by the contacts from law enforcement that I’ve had that law enforcement would like to have in the bill.”

The amendment failed.

An amendment to prohibit the carrying of a concealed weapon in an establishment that serves alcohol was also rejected by the committee, but the bill as amended was approved and will go to the full Senate for its consideration.

Members of the House have already approved the bill, but since Senators have made changes, the bill will have to go back to the House for another vote. If Delegates do not accept the Senate changes, the  bill will go to a conference committee, which some members of the Senate say is likely.

Constitutional Carry Bill Pulled from Senate Committee Agenda

The Senate Judiciary Committee pulled a bill to remove the permitting requirements to carry concealed weapons in the state from its agenda Monday afternoon. The decision, which came without an explanation during the meeting from Chair Charles Trump, came the same day as a public hearing on the issue. 

“With the push of that green button you told 1 million lawful gun owners in West Virginia that you believed in them,” West Virginia Citizens Defense League lobbyist Art Thomm told lawmakers during the hearing, speaking of a similar bill both the House and Senate approved during that 2015 session. That bill was vetoed by Governor Tomblin.

The 2016 legislation, already approved by the House of Delegates, would allow West Virginians over the are of 21, who are legally allowed to carry a gun currently, to carry a weapon concealed without a permit. It would also allow West Virginians from 18 to 21-years-old to obtain a permit after taking a safety course, like the one currently required under state code.

Members of the Citizens Defense League as well as a representative of the National Rifle Association spoke at the public hearing Monday, asking lawmakers to remove barriers for West Virginians to express their second amendment rights like cost. 

“We can’t as a society just hope that everybody knows what they’re doing,” Frank Hartman with the West Virginia Association of Counties said during the hearing. “The whole fundamental premise of a good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun is that the good guy knows what they’re doing.”

The association, according to Hartman, would support getting rid of the current fees for a concealed weapons permit if lawmakers kept the safety training course requirement in place. 

House Holds Public Meeting on Permitless Gun Bill

West Virginia lawmakers are hearing from the public this morning about a proposal to lift permitting requirements to carry concealed handguns.

The House of Delegates Judiciary Committee will scheduled the public meeting for this morning at 8:30 a.m.

Currently, it’s legal in West Virginia to carry a gun without a permit openly, like in a holster.

A bill by Republican Del. Saira Blair would let people cover up guns without a permit in public; for instance, by wearing a coat. People ages 18 through 20 years old would still need a permit under the proposal.

Only a handful of states do not require concealed carry permits.

The bill also increases penalties for felonies committed with a gun.

Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed a similar bill last year over safety concerns from law enforcement.

Exit mobile version