West Virginia Criminal Law Blog

From the Beckley Register-Herald:

Note: Isn’t it just like big-government politicians, such as we have here in West Virginia, to give people the right to carry concealed weapons, and then apply a bunch of arbitrary rules that nobody will know or be able to follow? That’s just what West Virginia needs, more rules. Maybe we could get those signs that the State of Virginia has when you drive into it listing everything that the all-knowing politicians have declared as illegal. - John H. Bryan, West Virginia Criminal Defense Attorney.

Legislation on guns causing stir

Mannix Porterfield
Register-Herald Reporter

CHARLESTON — Concealed weapons are making quite a bang in this legislative session.

One such proposal would conceal more than sidearms — it would keep a prying public from knowing just who has secured such permits. But that bill caused such a stir the House of Delegates pulled it off the calendar.

Over in the Senate, two other proposals embracing guns have surfaced.

Sen. Shirley Love, D-Fayette, is attempting to get the National Park Service to either recognize visitors who have concealed weapons permits — including non-residents — or post signs warning them their firearms aren’t allowed on federal land.

In his own measure, Sen. Clark Barnes, R-Randolph, wants to clear up language the attorney general’s office feels is a bit murky on the reciprocal agreements West Virginia holds with other states.

“We’re making lots of progress,” Barnes says. “But the attorneys from the attorney general’s office working on this say we need to clean up in our reciprocity to be able to open it up for other states’ licensees to be able to carry here, or our licensees to be able to carry in other states.”

Love says about 16 states honor West Virginia’s right to keep a hidden weapon on one’s person.

“We’re spending mega dollars to advertise for people to come into Fayette County and see ‘Wild, Wonderful West Virginia,’ and the New River Gorge, ride the whitewater or rock climb,” he says.

“But if you take that pistol off Fayette Station and go down into the gorge, and the NPS would stop you for speeding, they can say to you, ‘Do you have a weapon in your automobile? Do you have a weapon on you?’”

Since firearms are disallowed on federal property, the senator says, any visitor toting one inside the gorge could wind up behind bars, even though West Virginia recognizes such permits in the other states.

In his resolution, now before the Senate Natural Resources Committee, the senator is asking the NPS to at least post warning signs at park entrances if it cannot honor concealed weapons permits.

“That way you could separate the weapon and ammunition, put your weapon in the trunk of the car and lock it, and put the ammo in the glove compartment,” Love says.

“But there are no signs now. This could be entrapment.

“You could wind up probation for a year. It could cause you to lose your pistol permit and bring a fine.”

Love says a bill is pending in Congress to alter NPS regulations so that concealed weapons permits would be honored in the park system.

“But in the meantime, in places like the New River Gorge, let’s at least put signage up and amply warn people coming in from other states.”

The House bill was intended to protect victims of domestic violence by keeping secret their addresses after they file for concealed weapons permits. But concerns raised by the West Virginia Press Association over the public’s right to read public documents prompted the Democratic leadership to pull the bill.

Majority Leader Joe DeLong, D-Hancock, says the proposal can yet find its way back on the special calendar with two weeks left in the session if it can be tweaked to appease the Fourth Estate.

A year ago, the Legislature altered the state’s reciprocity bill, and the attorney general’s office began taking steps to conform, Barnes said.

“What we had to do in our original language is pretty much that their system had to be identical to our system. But there are some other states that don’t necessarily have an identical system but they may have a stronger system that operates differently. So we’re just trying to clean it up to make it more reciprocal with more states.”

From the Beckley Register-Herald:

Note: What public interest is there in the names and addresses of law-abiding citizens who obtain concealed weapons’ permits? And if there is legitimate public interest, then why must the addresses be included? Why not start publishing the names and addresses of welfare recipients? Taxpayer money is being funneled to it, government bureaucrats are administering it, and members of the public are receiving it. The answer: the Press supports expanded welfare programs, but does not support the 2nd Amendment. - John H. Bryan, West Virginia criminal defense attorney.

Concealed weapons bill in limbo in House

By Mannix Porterfield
Register-Herald Reporter

CHARLESTON — Delegate Rick Moye packs a hidden piece for his personal protection but is ambivalent about a proposal to deny public access to concealed weapons permits.

Moye’s reservations aren’t unique in the House of Delegates.

This week, the Rules Committee yanked from the active House calendar legislation that would make it no one’s business just who is toting a firearm under a court-approved permit. The bill was offered by Delegate Bill Hamilton, R-Upshur, with 10 co-sponsors, among them Delegates Mike Burdiss, D-Wyoming, Joe Talbott, D-Webster, and Mike Porter, R-Mercer.

There is a chance, however, the measure might be tweaked so its scope is narrowed to the very people it was intended to protect — victims of domestic violence.

“I can see both sides of that story,” says Moye, a school bus driver and body shop owner in Raleigh County.

“I can understand why you wouldn’t want that to be public knowledge for everyone to know. On the other hand, it’s a public record. When do you draw the line that you can conceal information?”

Obviously, the Rules Committee had problems wrestling with that as well, especially after the West Virginia Press Association reared itself into the issue, Majority Leader Joe DeLong, D-Hancock, said Thursday.

“I’m not sure where we’re at in the process, but I hope we can go back and revisit that bill and put an exemption in it when it comes to victims of domestic violence,” he said.

“I think that was the original intent of the bill. I think that’s what spurred this legislation.”

Domestic violence victims secured concealed weapons permits, only to have their addressed revealed to the reading public by newspapers, the majority leader said.

“We may be able to carve out an exemption for those people without taking away what’s considered to be the general right of the public to have access to this information,” DeLong said.

“The problem is in trying to strike a balance. There’s a certain segment of people that we’re trying to help. We still need to help those people and protect them. At the same time, we want to recognize the freedom of the press in having this type of information available as it should be in most other cases.”

Moye said he has no problem with people knowing he is legally armed. Without elaborating, the delegate said he got the permit for his personal protection.

“I’m a firm believer in my rights to keep and bear arms,” Moye said.

“I’ll not shy away from that at all. I just feel like it is a right, a privilege that I have, and I will exercise that privilege. And I totally support the Castle Doctrine. Common sense tells me that if someone is going to come and harm me, I don’t want to run from them.”