Is anyone familiar with West Virginia Carry?

[djturnz]

My mom, who lives in Arizona, is looking to move closer and is possibly looking into West Virgina.

I went to Handgunlaw.us and printed the WV pamphlet.

It looks like they have similar restrictions to PA as far as where you can't carry.
The only difference I saw, was that apparently there, a no guns sign on private property matters.

I also noticed that to get a WV permit, you must take a shooting test. I thought this was weird, since they honor PA LTCF, but PA doesn't require a test. I thought most states that offered reciprocity, usually offered it between other states with similar requirements.

Is anyone familiar with WV carry from personal experience?

I haven't looked into Open carry there yet. I don't really open carry very often, I mostly like it so that I don't have to worry if my shirt comes up and my gun shows.

[LittleRedToyota]

i carry in WV a fair amount. used to have to OC there. thankfully, now i can CC with my PA LTCF. i'm not nearly as familiary with carry laws in WV as i am with PA laws, though, so keep that in mind with reading the rest of this post and double-check everything for yourself--but i'll try to point you in the right direction.

one thing to be aware of is that there are a couple towns that had ordinances against carrying (i'm not actually sure whether it is carrying in general, or just OC) before WVs state pre-emption law went into effect and those ordinances were grandfatherd and remain in effect in spite of state pre-emption.

i can never remember which towns...i just know they are not any towns i ever go to. there is info about it in the WV forum on opencarry.org.

The only difference I saw, was that apparently there, a no guns sign on private property matters.

yeah, i just stay out of any place in WV that has a no guns sign. i haven't come across too many of them, so it hasn't really been an issue for me.

I also noticed that to get a WV permit, you must take a shooting test. I thought this was weird, since they honor PA LTCF, but PA doesn't require a test. I thought most states that offered reciprocity, usually offered it between other states with similar requirements.

i was extrememely (though quite pleasently) surprised (shocked, even) when PA got reciprocity with WV for this very reason. the had just recently passed a law prior to that which was intended to get more reciprocity for WV. but, the wording of the law does include something saying the other state has to have the same or stricter requirements for issuing LTCFs. this would seem to exclude PA from possibly having reciprocity with WV. but, for some reason, their AG established reciprocity with PA anyway. i'm not going to complain.

Is anyone familiar with WV carry from personal experience?

as i said, i carry there pretty often. i spend a fair amount of weekends in the great WV wilderness. i've never had any issues...even back when i had to OC there. that includes OCing in morgantown, elkins, seneca rocks, fayetteville, etc. as well as monongahela national forest, etc.

again, though, there are a couple of towns that are off limits...check opencarry.org. the info is there somewhere (in the "stories from WV" sub-forum).

[djturnz]

Thanks LRT, I did check out OCDO on the subject after I posted here and did learn that OC was ok there as well. I think she's looking into Martinsburg. I did see the names of two towns that supposedly have the grandfathered bans. I don't remember what they were, but if she does buy the house there, I'll be sure to look a little further into it.

One thing I do need to find out is what the state requirements are for such a sign on a business. I'd imagine it has to be easily seen from outside, and possibly be a certain size and or colors.