A pro-gun lobbying group sued Monday to overturn gun-control laws in Charleston, South Charleston, Dunbar and Martinsburg.
The first lawsuit filed by the West Virginia Citizens Defense League, several members and a gun dealer challenges prohibitions against carrying firearms on the cities' property. It also challenges Charleston's limits on the number of handguns a person can buy in a month and prohibitions on selling firearms to people who've been treated for mental illness or charged with crimes.
A second lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Martinsburg challenges that city's ban on guns in city buildings.
Lawyer James Mullins said the group wants to vindicate people's right to carry firearms.
"No criminal or deranged lunatic is going to be deterred from committing a crime on public property by the prospect of a whopping 30 extra days in jail for violating a municipal ordinance," Mullins said in a statement. "Neither will a criminal wait while his intended victim goes through the 3-day waiting period Charleston imposes on buying a handgun."
Charleston Mayor Danny Jones promised to fight the lawsuit. Jones was named a defendant in the lawsuit, along with the mayors of Dunbar and South Charleston. Neither man had immediate comment.
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