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WHEELING -- Last year West Virginia lawmakers agreed to a provision allowing corrections employees to carry firearms on the job, but the words are missing from the comprehensive corrections bill signed into law by Gov. Jim Justice.
Senate Majority Leader Ryan Weld, R-Brooke, this session has introduced a stand-alone measure to permit the employees to carry guns. Senate Bill 337 is currently before the Senate Government Organization committee.
"Last year, we had the really big comprehensive corrections bill, and that measure was in the bill at all stages," Weld said. "Somehow that paragraph got left out when it went to the governor for signature. The Department of Corrections asked me if I would sponsor the legislation.
"It's not a new concept to address. When we had that bill, it was a talking point. It just got left out."
Weld said it isn't a common practice for parts of legislation to be omitted from a finalized bill.
"I have never heard of something like that happening before, but it is not intentional," he said.
Weld doesn't believe there should be any issues with the measure passing on its own in 2019. The bill is sponsored by eight senators, among them Charles Clements, R-Wetzel and Mike Maroney, R-Marshall.
As written, the measure would permit the Commissioner of Corrections to issue a certificate authorizing any correctional employee to carry a firearm if they have successfully completed the division's training program for firearms certification.
These correctional employees would be permitted to carry their "while in the performance of his or her official duties, including travel to and from work sites," the legislation states. The employee also must successfully complete an annual firearms qualification course equivalent to that required of certified law-enforcement officers to maintain the certificate.