On February 27 the West Virginia senate passed a bill to eliminate the need for obtaining a permit to to carry a concealed handgun, citing the 2nd Amendment as reason enough to exercise an “inherent right.”
Five other states–Alaska, Arizona, Montana, Vermont, and Wyoming–already recognize the 2nd Amendment as sufficient justification for carrying concealed. And on February 13, Breitbart News reported that the New Hampshire senate voted to rescind their requirement for a permit for concealed carry.
According to The Charleston Gazette, West Virginia senators voted 32-2 for passage of the bill to eliminate the permit requirement. Besides rescinding the permit requirement, the bill recognizes the age of legal concealed carry should be 18 years, not 21.
Senator Robert Kames (R-Upshur) said, “This is a United States constitutional right. The 2nd Amendment recognizes this inherent right.” Senator Charles Trump (R-Morgan) added, “This bill eliminates the crime of carrying a concealed weapon in West Virginia.”
The two “nay” votes on the bill were from sens. Corey Palumbo (D-Kanawha) and Ron Miller (D-Greenbrier).
Another Democrat senator–Mike Romano (Harrison)–voted for the bill but tried to change it to force West Virginians “to take a handgun a safety course before they could carry.” Senator Kames successfully opposed this effort by describing Romano’s push as a “backdoor licensing scheme.”
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.