By Amber Perry, West Virginia Citizens Defense League

Lying. It’s no way to run an organization. Especially if the title of “mom” is included in your name. I am genuinely appalled to see the infamous group, funded by the one and only Michael Bloomberg, publicly outright and unabashedly lying.

I’m going to lay it all out right here for you to read for yourself.

Moms Demand Action states the following:

Everytown for Gun Safety, West Virginia Moms, Condemn Senate Passage of Dangerous Gun Bill That Would Allow Domestic Abusers to Carry Loaded, Hidden Handguns

March 2, 2015 By Moms Demand Action

SB 347 Heads to House Next; Bill Would Dismantle West Virginia’s Concealed Carry Licensing System

The West Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today released the following statement condemning the Senate passage of SB 347.

If SB 347 were to become law, it would effectively dismantle the state concealed carry licensing system. Most notably, the bill puts West Virginian women at risk as this dangerous legislation would lower the bar for who can carry concealed guns, allowing domestic abusers subject to emergency domestic violence protective orders and certain violent gun criminals to carry hidden, loaded guns in public.

“Dismantling our concealed carry licensing system and lowering the bar to allow domestic abusers to carry guns puts women in West Virginia in danger. By passing SB 347, the Senate proved that they don’t value the lives of women in our state,” said Dee Price, a volunteer with the West Virginia chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed – and legislation like SB 347 will not improve this scary statistic. It’s time for our legislators to reject this dangerous bill.”

Is that not the most hysteria inducing lie you’ve read to date regarding SB347? That the passage of the bill will endanger women by allowing domestic abusers to be in legal possession of firearms.

Here is the West Virginia list of “prohibited persons.” These are the folks who cannot legally possess a firearm in the state of West Virginia. This list does not change at all with SB347. Not one single change. Not one. Are we clear?

WEST VIRGINIA CODEt§61-7-7.

Persons prohibited from possessing firearms; classifications; reinstatement of rights to possess; offenses; penalties.

(a) Except as provided in this section, no person shall possess a firearm, as such is defined in section two of this article, who:

(1) Has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year;

(2) Is habitually addicted to alcohol;

(3) Is an unlawful user of or habitually addicted to any controlled substance;

(4) Has been adjudicated to be mentally incompetent or who has been involuntarily committed to a mental institution pursuant to the provisions of chapter twenty-seven of this code or in similar law of another jurisdiction: Provided, That once an individual has been adjudicated as a mental defective or involuntarily committed to a mental institution, he or she shall be duly notified that they are to immediately surrender any firearms in their ownership or possession: Provided, however, That the mental hygiene commissioner or circuit judge shall first make a determination of the appropriate public or private individual or entity to act as conservator for the surrendered property;

(5) Is an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States;

(6) Has been discharged from the armed forces under dishonorable conditions;

(7) Is subject to a domestic violence protective order that:

(A) Was issued after a hearing of which such person received actual notice and at which such person had an opportunity to participate;

(B) Restrains such person from harassing, stalking or threatening an intimate partner of such person or child of such intimate partner or person, or engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child; and

(C)(i) Includes a finding that such person represents a credible threat to the physical safety of such intimate partner or child; or

(ii) By its terms explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury; or

(8) Has been convicted of a misdemeanor offense of assault or battery either under the provisions of section twenty-eight, article two of this chapter or the provisions of subsection (b) or (c), section nine of said article or a federal or state statute with the same essential elements in which the victim was a current or former spouse, current or former sexual or intimate partner, person with whom the defendant has a child in common, person with whom the defendant cohabits or has cohabited, a parent or guardian, the defendant’s child or ward or a member of the defendant’s household at the time of the offense or has been convicted in any court of any jurisdiction of a comparable misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

Are we clear? Yes, we are crystal clear. Domestic abusers are not going to be any more allowed to legally possess firearms in the state of West Virginia than they already are. Which just happens to be not at all. By the way, West Virginia law is more restrictive than US law on who is a prohibited person.

Lying to get your “message” out there is shameful. It makes you look desperate and it most assuredly outs you as a person/group willing to stoop to any low to advance your agenda. So I ask you West Virginians, is this what we want in our state? Does this group represent the moms of West Virginia? I don’t think so.

Amber Perry is the author of this article and a Board Member of West Virginia Citizens Defense League (www.wvcdl.org) the group that authored SB347.