CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- With a little more than five months until its application deadline, the city of Charleston remains undecided as to whether it will reapply for the state's Municipal Home Rule Program or not.

During the 2013 legislative session, lawmakers added to the bill a set of limitations regarding cities' abilities to implement gun control laws. It passed after a House-Senate compromise was reached.

Under the new version of the law (which also expanded the program to include 16 new cities), municipalities that participate in home rule may do so only if they repeal city gun ordinances. Charleston is the only original home-rule city that has such laws.

Those laws were implemented in the 1990s to eliminate a drugs-for-guns trade between dealers in Charleston, the Midwest and Northeast, as well as to bring down the city's high murder rate, according to City Council President Tom Lane, a Republican councilman at-large.

http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201312250092