In the new year, concealed carry in Alabama will no longer necessitate a license. According to the Associated Press, this makes the state one of only 25 that does not mandate a permit for concealed carry. Beginning on January 1st, it will be mandatory.
According to the bill’s backer, it’s solely about the permit process and people who have been determined to be unfit to own firearms will still be denied one.
State Representative Shane Stringer praised the bill, claiming that it would be “a major step to help the average law-abiding individual” by removing the need for a licence to carry firearms. Who can and cannot carry a gun will not be affected. Any current bans on certain groups will remain in effect.
Several attempts to pass the bill were made in Montgomery, but were all rejected by city officials until gun rights advocates began actively lobbying for it.
As soon as the bill was passed by both houses of the legislature, Governor Kay Ivey signed it into law. In her victorious reelection campaign, she advocated strongly for the right to bear arms.
The construction of a “prohibited individuals” database to prevent dangerous people from acquiring firearms was important in the law’s passage this time around. According to Stringer, it was the database itself that motivated him to become a bill sponsor.
As Hal Taylor, director of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, put it in a memo to Alabama governor Kay Ivey, “whether issuing a routine traffic citation or investigating criminal activity, all officers using the Law Enforcement Tactical System now can receive instant notice of a person’s ineligibility to possess a firearm.”
Zippia has placed Alabama as the eighth most pro-gun state in the United States. Factors such as firearms employment rates, average firearms wages, firearms ownership rates, and gun control legislation were used to compile this figure.
