By RUSTY MARKS
The State Journal
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said officials in West Virginia and Wisconsin have worked out an agreement to allow Wisconsin residents with a valid concealed weapons permits to carry concealed in the Mountain State.
West Virginia residents with a concealed weapons permit have been allowed to carry concealed in Wisconsin for some time, but Morrisey said the arrangement with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker codifies the right of Wisconsin residents to carry in West Virginia.
“I take protecting the Second Amendment rights of legal gun owners seriously,” Morrisey said in a statement. “Residents of West Virginia and those who visit here should be able to exercise their right to bear arms.”
Although agreements have been reached with a few more states over the past couple of years, further reciprocity agreements are increasingly unlikely. Most of the states with which West Virginia does not already have concealed weapons reciprocity either have highly restrictive concealed carry laws or don’t allow concealed carry.
According to Morrisey’s office, West Virginia has full handgun reciprocity agreements or mutual recognition with Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Although West Virginia law now allows state residents to carry a concealed weapon within the boundaries of the Mountain State without a permit, a concealed weapons permit is still required if state residents want to carry concealed in one of the states with which West Virginia has reciprocity.
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