PA Bill Number: HB335

Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.

Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...

Last Action: Removed from table

Last Action Date: May 1, 2024

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'Right to carry' may heat as W. Va. governor vetoes carry bill :: 03/23/2015

The debate over right-to-carry may warm up anew following yesterday’s veto of so-called “constitutional carry” legislation by West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, who used as justification his concerns about public safety.

“We’ve got to put public safety first,” Tomblin told a radio station yesterday.

West Virginia Metro News quoted the governor's veto message, where he explained, “Law enforcement officers throughout the state have voiced overwhelming opposition to this bill. In light of their concerns and in the interest of public safety, I believe a veto is appropriate.”

This comes a couple of days after a poll by the Topeka Capital Journal revealed that 78 percent of Kansans prefer that anyone carrying a sidearm for personal protection should have a permit. The survey also found that 53 percent of the respondents would be “less likely” to vote for political candidates who supported legislation to amend the current permit system.

On the other hand, there has been a clamor from corners of the Second Amendment community for “constitutional carry.” That’s been the norm in Vermont for a century, and states including Alaska and Arizona have adopted it. It means no license or permit, no training requirement necessary; just strap on the holstered sidearm and go about your business in a peaceable manner.

This past week, the former commander of the Maryland State Police Licensing Division made headlines in the Washington Times, admitting that he was wrong about Second Amendment activists. He acknowledged that they had “schooled” and “humbled” him, and he had been embarrassed.

Jack McCauley told Maryland lawmakers that he had wrongly been concerned about "blood in the streets." He thought concealed carry advocates would be “scary.” That was not accurate, and his admission, which may be viewed on YouTube, was a genuine eye-opener.

Armed citizens are occasionally the proverbial “first responders” at a crime scene. When people talk about how they “support” the Second Amendment, sometimes they forget the part about the right to “bear” arms.

The Guns America blog did a piece earlier in the week that asks a hard-to-answer question: Are opponents of constitutional carry anti-gun? The piece focused on West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin, life member of the National Rifle Association who ran into trouble with that organization two years ago when he co-sponsored, with Sen. Pat Toomey, the Pennsylvania Republican, a background check measure that, had it passed, might have thrown roadblocks in the way of anti-gun Michael Bloomberg’s efforts to push “universal background checks” all over the map.

Manchin came out in opposition to the carry bill that Gov. Tomblin vetoed. It did not sit well with proponents of the legislation, which passed both chambers of the Legislature.

What are the pros and cons about constitutional carry? People say there are some. Has the day returned to this country when armed citizens should no longer be required to get a license or permit to exercise a constitutionally protected civil right?

Many people in West Virginia, including a majority of the Legislature, thought it had in the Mountain State. Yesterday, Gov. Tomblin’s veto said they were wrong.

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