On February 25 West Virginia Delegate Saira Blair (R-Martinsburg) told Breitbart News that Governor Earl Ray Tomblin (D) will veto legislation abolishing a concealed carry permit requirement in the state, but lawmakers will quickly override the veto.
Blair sponsored the legislation–HB 4145–which does away with the requirement that persons 21 and older must seek government permission to carry a gun via the concealed carry licensing process. “The constitution is enough of a license,” Blair told Breitbart News. At the same time, HB 4145 creates a concealed carry licensing system for persons 18-20 years old, so that those who are old to possess a gun–18 years–can also carry one for self-defense. Ironically, this will allow Blair to get a permit to carry a gun for self-defense, as she is only 19-years old.
Additionally, if you are active duty military, Blair’s bill eliminates the need for concealed carry license for ages 18 and up, period.
For non-military persons 21-year and up who still want a concealed carry license–for reciprocity benefits–Blair’s bill provides a $50 tax credit to cover the cost of getting a concealed license.
Breitbart News previously reported that the HB 4145 passed the House on Feb 8, then passed the Senate earlier on February 22. After passing the Senate, HB 4145 was sent back to the House for a final concurrence vote and Blair and her colleagues used a procedural move to get concurrence and get the bill to the Governor’s desk in about 20 minutes.
The importance of this is that the WV legislature is only in session till March 12 and Governor Tomblin gets 5 days to think about whether to sign or veto the measure. By getting the bill to him in the middle of this past week, Delegates have guaranteed that they and their Senate counterparts will have time to override a veto.
Blair said:
We expect that that the Governor is going to veto our legislation, HB 4145, because he vetoed a very similar piece of legislation last year. We made some improvements with this one–some compromises–but we still think he’s not going to support it and we expect a veto.
Thankfully we moved it along quickly enough this year that we have enough time to override his veto, both in the House and in the Senate.
Blair said WV lawmakers have already “had two veto overrides this year” and she “is absolutely confident that a veto of HB 4145 will be overridden as well.”
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.