New guy in Fairmont/Morgantown area

Hey everyone! I just joined the forum today and I'm from the greater morgantown area and I am interested in open carry, but I'm not too familiar with the laws, and I have been told a bunch of different things about its legality. I was curious if you have to keep the weapon unloaded when you're carrying or not? Also, what are the laws about open carrying in your vehicle. I have nothing against concealed carry, I just don't see the point if open carry is perfectly lawful in this state. Thanks everyone and I look forward to hearing everyone's info on the subject.

Welcome to OCDO. California is the only state that mandates that openly-carried handguns be unloaded. However, in West Virginia, there is a legal minefield concerning open carry thanks to a variety of firearm-related provisions in W.Va. Code § 20-2-5(3), (8), (9), (10), (19), and (24), which in turn are overridden in part by § 20-2-6a, which applies only to concealed carry by CHL holders.

The current state of the law is extremely confusing to the legally untrained observer. For example, the Division of Natural Resources (whose Natural Resources Police Officers, while generally focused on enforcing hunting & natural resources laws, have concurrent statewide law-enforcement jurisdiction with the State Police and all local agencies), asserts a strict, literal interpretation of § 20-2-5(9) (prohibiting loaded firearms in vehicles), while the State Police says OC of a handgun in a vehicle is legal.

WVCDL has proposed legislation to sweep this minefield, but we will have to wait until the next legislative session to try again.

Hiya

I also live in Morgantown, the only place i've had an issue with my open carry is the Granville Wal mart. It may be because im also a former employee, and they just wanted to harass me. But telling them i was compliant with state statues, they let it drop. The old Fairmont Mall and Toys r Us in Clarksburg are the only places i've seen the no firearms window sticker. If you open carry you shouldnt have any issues up here. Ive been in most of the mall businesses, the I68 walmart, glenmark center, fast food places, and many of the Granville plaza places with out incident.