WINFIELD, W.Va. – West Virginians with concealed handgun permits can now add New Hampshire and Iowa to the states that have reciprocity/mutual recognition agreements with West Virginia.
State Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced the change on Wednesday alongside Putnam County Sheriff Steve Deweese at the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office in Winfield.
“West Virginia now has reciprocity agreements, or recognition, from 36 states. That’s significant,” said Morrisey.
Sheriff Deweese said he used to get calls all the time from West Virginians heading out of state wondering what they needed to do with their firearms when they entered a non-reciprocity state.
“They need to stop before getting to the state line and put all their ammo separate from their weapon into the trunk,” explained Deweese.
He doesn’t get those calls as much anymore now that more state’s have agreements with West Virginia.
In just the past few months Morrisey has also added Georgia, Colorado and Idaho to the list of states with CHL agreements with West Virginia. The only neighboring state without an agreement with West Virginia is Maryland. In fact, the bulk of states with no agreements with West Virginia are in the northeast.
Morrisey hopes to work with other attorneys general to come up with agreements in the future. He said it’s an American’s Second Amendment right to carry a gun and that should apply anywhere you go.
For more information on which states West Virginia has CHL agreements with, log on to www.wvago.gov/gunrecep.cfm.