CHARLESTON — A smile creased his face when Gov. Joe Manchin was questioned about a bill sent to his desk on the final night of the session to provide hunters and other gun owners a tax holiday when buying firearms and ammo in October.

“That disturbs me a little bit,” Manchin said outside the Senate chamber, the scene of a contentious outburst over the National Rifle Association-backed bill.

“I just heard about that. I don’t know where it came from.”

Echoing the sentiments of Sen. Jesse Guills, R-Greenbrier, the governor said he prefers to see tax breaks provided to the general public in the purchase of food and life’s necessities.

“I want to see that,” he said.

Guills complained that broad-based tax cuts are more reasonable — such as on food and gasoline — than providing one segment of society a break.

In rebuttal, Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, said the cut would only cost about $25,000, and it recognizes West Virginia’s long-held tradition of hunting.

Majority Leader Truman Chafin, D-Mingo, suggested it would boost sales in border counties by attracting buyers from adjoining states.

Overall, Manchin said he was “pretty well pleased” with the outcome of the session.

One item that especially pleased him was passage of a bill allowing him to set up an office to manage West Virginia’s fleet of motor vehicles and aircraft. Recent audits pointed to widespread abuse, with many employees using vehicles for personal use, while taxpayers are footing the bill.

“There are no exceptions there,” Manchin said. “Everything has to be basically accounted for. How do you drive? Do you drive for the job? To home?”

Delegate Kelli Sobonya, R-Cabell, wondered if the bill would work, since it merely says the governor “may” set up such an office, not “shall.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Manchin said in the interview.

 “I’ve been wanting this one for a long time. This is something good.”

Manchin’s worst disappointment was the failure to send him a constitutional amendment on the business inventory tax, one he promoted as an opportunity to attract and retain more investors in the state.

“It would have given us the ability to diversify this economy and remove some taxes,” he said.

“I continue to believe if you can give tax relief to our citizens, they’ll spend the money better than we can in Charleston.”

Manchin suggested he has no problems with a bill obligating doctors to show pregnant women ultrasound imaging, if they request it, before an abortion is performed. The bill says women must sign a form indicating they were offered the pictures and removes penalties against doctors not in compliance.

“That’s a good one,” he said of the measure.

“I think this was a good session. But I’ll know more next week. Just about everything we had up here has gone through. And knowing what degree it went through and the content, we won’t know that until we start seeing it next week.”