The West Virginia House of Delegates passed legislation Tuesday to allow 18-20 year-olds to carry handguns concealed for self-defense without a permit.
Breitbart News reported that the West Virginia Senate passed legislation to accomplish the same result last week.
West Virginia Watch noted that the House passed the legislation on a party line vote, with 87 Republicans voting in favor of it.
Republicans have repeatedly pointed out that West Virginia law already allows the open carry of handguns by persons 18-20 years of age, and the new legislation simply means they remain legal even if a coat or sweatshirt covers the firearm.
Delegate Hollis Lewis (D) opposed passage of the legislation, saying, “I can tell you from somebody who has had countless friends murdered, killed, shot at those tender ages, that again, lowering the barrier is not, I don’t think, the answer.”
Lewis added, “And again, we don’t want to infringe on anybody’s constitutional rights, but we need common-sense guardrails in order to stop people from hurting themselves and hurting others.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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