New OC'er in West Virginia!

I am looking for advice on OC on my person and also in my truck in WV. I have a .45 SAA that I will open carry. Can someone get me to the right info that I can print and carry with me when I OC? It seems as if our local and state LOE's do not understand the laws they have sworn to uphold.

Greetings and welcome!

That being said, be VERY careful open carrying in your truck. Make sure it is completely visible. If it is even partially obscured, an officer may consider it concealed. For this reason, do not have it held in a hip holster on your person-- an approaching officer may not be able to see it. Also, as someone else mentioned in another thread recently, you need to watch out for hunting regulations as well.

silverwolf1775 said:

I am looking for advice on OC on my person and also in my truck in WV. I have a .45 SAA that I will open carry. Can someone get me to the right info that I can print and carry with me when I OC? It seems as if our local and state LOE's do not understand the laws they have sworn to uphold.

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Welcome and nice to have you..I open carry a lot in WV mostly with my .357 glock..Havent had any complaints as of yet..As far as carrying in a car or truck just make sure its visible..most of the time i have
it sitting right on my passenger seat so if a officer pulls me over he will see me and the gun pretty quick..sometimes i carry it on my hip while driving but the officer might be a **** and tell me im hiding it..the main thing with open carrying is just making sure its always visible..not a big deal..the only person that ever said anything to me about carrying and kinda freaked out worked in wv but lived in md so he was supprised..i just told him since hes worked there hes had tons of people walk by him with guns on them, i was just the first one he saw OC

glockboy88 said:

....most of the time i have
it sitting right on my passenger seat so if a officer pulls me over he will see me and the gun pretty quick.

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That is NOT a good idea. If you were ever to be hit by another vehicle that gun could easily go airborne and slam you right in the head causing extremely bad injuries, maybe even death.


I would just carry it in a holster on your hip while driving and if pulled over, quickly put the gun on the seat or even passenger side of the dashboard. But never drive while its sitting on the seat.

Sig229 said:

That is NOT a good idea. If you were ever to be hit by another vehicle that gun could easily go airborne and slam you right in the head causing extremely bad injuries, maybe even death.


I would just carry it in a holster on your hip while driving and if pulled over, quickly put the gun on the seat or even passenger side of the dashboard. But never drive while its sitting on the seat.

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I would not do this. Officers are trained to watch for movement when initiating a traffic stop, and such movement could get them on edge-- not a good thing if they then see a firearm. I attached a holster to my passenger seat. It keeps it in place, but it is still clearly visible if an officer were to pull me over.

Moodock said:

I would not do this. Officers are trained to watch for movement when initiating a traffic stop, and such movement could get them on edge--

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True, however officer know that the driver has to make some movement in order to fetch his/her license, registration and insurance info from the glove box or other area of the vehicle.

not a good thing if they then see a firearm.

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They NEED to see the firearm or else its concealed and that would be illegal.

I attached a holster to my passenger seat. It keeps it in place,

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Thats very good and I hope more people secure their firearms while operating a motor vehicle.

Sig229 said:

True, however officer know that the driver has to make some movement in order to fetch his/her license, registration and insurance info from the glove box or other area of the vehicle.

They NEED to see the firearm or else its concealed and that would be illegal.

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I agree and understand that they need to see the firearm. The point I was trying to make was that it is best to minimize movement when open carrying. Do you have to? No, of course not. I just try to avoid any headaches with over zealous LEO's (especially a rookie deputy in my area who is out to save the world one citation that holds little or no water at a time).

Thats very good and I hope more people secure their firearms while operating a motor vehicle.

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Well, ya kinda need to, especially on these mountain roads. Unless you legitimately enjoy having dense objects rolling around your cabin and not being able to get to your firearm if needed, that is. Personally, the latter is not my cup of tea.