| A renewed battle over the public's right to access permits to carry concealed weapons is going on in the West Virginia Legislature.
One vote is pending in the Senate related to reciprocity pacts, one that allows West Virginia and other states to recognize each other's concealed permits when residents travel.
There is a controversial provision in another bill 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.
Most West Virginia newspapers currently publish the issuance of concealed weapons permits.
Philip Reale, an attorney and lobbyist for the West Virginia Press Association, says it is bad public policy to secret the permits.
"Whether it's a concealed weapon permit or anything else of that nature involving public safety is an issue, the public has a right to know. Most people would want to know that their neighbor is carrying a concealed weapon," Reale said.
Leading the charge for the privacy policy is the National Rifle Association, whose legislative liaison, Jordan Austin, says it is vital that an individual's privacy be maintained when a gun permit is issued.
Austin says "When records like that are published, it puts people in danger and at risk."
"This really becomes a shopping list for the criminal to take advantage of you," the NRA leader said of published weapons permits.
Kanawha Sheriff Mike Rutherford testified before a legislative panel that not once in two decades of his law enforcement work has the release of concealed weapon information been used to aid a criminal offense.
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