Permitless concealed carry bill delayed in Senate committee

A Senate committee Wednesday adjourned before taking up a bill that would allow permitless concealed carry of firearms in the state of Alabama. 

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, would repeal existing requirements on concealed carry and pistol permits. Gun owners would not need a permit to carry a concealed weapon on their person or in their motor vehicle. 

The bill would make it illegal to carry a firearm into certain areas without express permission, including law enforcement and correctional agencies; facilities providing mental health care and private courthouses and buildings hosting local government meetings. Private businesses that clearly signal they ban firearms on their premises would also be exempt. In those cases, the firearm would have to be securely stowed in a vehicle.

The bill was scheduled for a public hearing, but Senate Judiciary Committee chair Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, adjourned the meeting before taking it up. Allen got up and, holding his bill, said “one more.” Ward said the committee would take up the bill next week. 

“I’m a little disappointed, but we can’t control time,” Allen said after the meeting.

The bill faced opposition from Alabama sheriffs and Moms Demand Action, which supports public safety measures on guns. The bill was placed at the end of a long agenda in committee that included legislation dealing with the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles; a major change to the state’s ethics law and a bill that would outlaw racial profiling. 

Ward said after the meeting that he did not want to rush through the hearing on the bill. He said it would be the first item at next week's committee meeting.

“We just ran out of time and there’s only so much I can do, but we made a commitment to spend an hour and a half on each committee meeting and if I break that rule, then every other chairman is going to break that rule,” he said. “But they’re going to get a public hearing.”

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones, one of several sheriffs who came to the State House to oppose the bill, said the bill would make it harder for law enforcement to stop individuals “who may not have a criminal record but are out to do ill to someone else.” 

“We have examples in the past where we have applied the law and it has allowed us to remove weapons from the hands of individuals who are out to harm others,” he said. “It is a public safety issue and we feel it helps us do a better job protecting our communities.”

Moms Demand Action said about 100 volunteers came out in opposition to the bill on Wednesday. Harriette Higgins, a Moms Demand Action volunteer from Auburn, said the group would be back, and that she wasn’t surprised by the delay.

“I personally expected it because we were so far down on the agenda,” she said. “Although we have a lot of people here today, we have a lot of people who will come back next Wednesday.”