West Virginia Legislature Moves to Extend Constitutional Carry to Young Adults

While its neighbor to the east continues to disarm citizens, West Virginia is moving to reinforce protections on constitutional liberties, with the legislature passing a measure to extend constitutional carry to 18- to 20-year-olds before adjourning for the session.

On Saturday, March 14, the West Virginia House concurred with the Senate amendment and passed House Bill 4106, a measure which recognizes “the right of persons 18 to 20 years old to carry a concealed deadly weapon without first obtaining a license…”

The bill also:

• Repeals the crime of carrying a deadly weapon without a license for persons under 21 years of age;
• Repeals the exceptions to prohibitions for persons 18 to 20 years old carrying concealed handguns;
• Clarifies that certain persons 18 years of age or older have the right to carry concealed deadly weapons without first obtaining a license

The NRA-ILA (National Rifle Association – Institute for Legislative Action), which tracks 2A legislation, stated, “This is a critical enhancement of West Virginia’s constitutional carry provisions, allowing all law-abiding legal adults to exercise their right to self-defense.”

The Bondi DOJ, last year, took the position that bans on handguns for adults under 21 are constitutional, even though no other civil liberty is age-restricted for legal adults.

West Virginia was the first state earlier this year to introduce a measure to legally transfer machine guns to qualified residents. Meanwhile, just to the east, the Virginia legislature passed a host of unprecedented gun control measures that are on Governor Spanberger’s desk and will go into law even if not formally signed.