WVa gun laws: Too easy for criminal element?
February 14, 2009 2:12 PM

BECKLEY, W.Va.

Law enforcement officers and gun-control advocates say West Virginia's loose gun laws make the state an illegal gun runners' dream.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Charleston field agent Paul Cross said drug dealers from large urban areas come to West Virginia because guns are plentiful and cheap.

He says dealers will bring drugs into the state and take guns out where they can sell them and make hundreds of dollars in profits per weapon.

[color="DarkRed"](These dealers are mostly blacks from Detroit and Cleveland. They focus in on Charleston and Huntington but bleed down into the smaller communities, such as the one I live in. I'm sure they number close to a thousand but of course aren't shown on the Census).

Earlier this month The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said state lawmakers haven't done enough to control commonsense gun control measures. West Virginia received only 4 out of a possible 100 points.

Brady spokesman Peter Haam says stronger gun laws will only help West Virginia because it will be less attractive to drug-selling gun traffickers.

Information from: The Register-Herald, http://www.register-herald.com

http://wchstv.com/newsroom/wv/news13.shtml