W. Va. Senate to vote on gun bill this week

The debate over whether the public should have access to concealed-weapons permits continues in West Virginia, The Register-Herald (W.Va.) reported. Although the Senate plans to vote on a bill to prohibit public access, a different piece of legislation is being crafted in the House of Delegates to retain the public's right to know.

A renewed battle over the public’s right to access permits to carry concealed weapons is playing out in both chambers of the West Virginia Legislature this week.

A vote is planned at mid-week in the Senate on SB378 that is designed basically as a reciprocity pact, one that allows West Virginia and other states to recognize each other’s concealed permits when residents travel to and from one another.

Attached to that proposal, however, is a controversial provision that says the public has no right to pry into government records through a Freedom of Information Act request to see just who is allowed to pack a hidden firearm in public.

More here.