In an act of political courage, West Virginia Democratic Governor?Earl Ray Tomblin on Friday, vetoed a bill sent to him by the Republican-controlled state legislature which would have allowed residents of the Mountain State to carry concealed guns without a permit. Tomblin said he did so due to concerns from the law enforcement community.
The bill which passed the legislature would have voided a state law that requires gun owners, over the age of 21, to have a permit and undergo mandatory safety training in order to legally carry a gun that isn’t visible. Gun rights advocates had called the requirements for concealed carry permits costly and said they take too much time.
In a statement issued with the veto, Governor Tomblin said:
“Throughout my career, I have strongly supported the Second Amendment, as demonstrated by my repeated endorsements and high grades from the National Rifle Association.?However, I must also be responsive to the apprehension of law enforcement officers from across the state, who have concerns about the bill as it relates to the safety of their fellow officers.”
West Virginians may still carry guns openly without a permit, and only a few states–Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Vermont, and rural parts of Wyoming–do not require residents to have a permit for the right to carry a weapon in a concealed fashion.
Dee Price, a volunteer with the West Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America praised Tomblin’s veto:
“After years of operating in state legislatures unchecked, the NRA’s agenda of putting gun lobby interests above the safety of our communities is now being defeated in state after state, and today, here in West Virginia. It’s just common sense that if a person wants to carry a loaded, hidden handgun in public, they need to demonstrate they have a clean recent violent criminal record and have been trained to handle and carry a gun safely.”
The National Rifle Association (NRA), which has consistently ignored common sense or reason when it comes to gun safety, did not comment on Governor Tomblin’s veto. One would have to be naive though to think the pro-gun organization won’t eventually issue one of its patented diatribes which completely ignores the problem, and instead seeks to shift the blame elsewhere.
