SB 24, the “permitless” or Constitutional carry bill in Alabama, cleared another hurdle. Last Wednesday, it passed the Senate Judiciary committee. “The committee voted 6-3 for the bill after a fiery public hearing with law enforcement officers largely opposing it and gun rights groups speaking in favor of it,” thenewstribune.com reports. “The bill now moves to the Senate floor.” There were numerous Second Amendment supporters speaking in favor of the bill . . .
Many said the should not have to pay or ask for government permission to exercise a Constitutional right. Those speaking against the bill were a faction of law enforcement, mainly Sheriffs. They claimed the bill would remove an important tool of law enforcement. Not all sheriffs were against the bill. Some spoke for it, claiming that it only supported Second Amendment rights.
Some supporters of the bill say that Sheriffs oppose it because they are the recipients of the concealed carry permit fees. From comments at legiscan.com:
Pistol permits have been the sacrid cash cow for Alabama Sheriffs for too long. Their opposition is not public safety, but loss of the almost unchecked use of the funds these permits generate. NO one person should have the power to take away a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. That power allows Sheriffs to not issue a permit to a person based on personal, political, or many other issues that have nothing to do with public safety.
Alabama is on track to be the second state to pass Constitutional carry this year. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed a bill that brought New Hampshire into the Constitutional carry club on 22 February, 2017.
North Dakota and Kentucky are in the race to be the second state to join the Constitutional carry club as well. There are 12 current members. They are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wyoming, and West Virginia.
Several other states have legislation introduced or in process. Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Virgina, Utah, and Wisconsin are all considering Constitutional carry. That list may increase as the year progresses.
Montana passed a “permitless” carry bill for the third time this year. The bill would have extended “permitless” carry to the one percent of the state where a permit is required. It was vetoed for a second time by Governor Bullock.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Gun Watch
“Many said the should not have to pay or ask for government permission to exercise a Constitutional right.”
This is why I never got a permit, but carry anyway if I feel I need too. I am simply not willing to give up a right and turn it into a privilege, it’s a slippery slope I will have no part in. The Government and the Law needs to follow the Constitution, end of story.
Anyone carrying and not paying for a privilege has my respect, and is a true American, right on up there and in the spirit with the founders.
So, I take it that you are calling and emailing your representatives to get these unconstitutional rules taken off of the books, maybe even speaking at the state house in opposition to these rules… or do you take no part in that, either? Just curious… lots of people refuse to ‘take part’ in the permit system, but also refuse to ‘take part’ in getting it changed.
The Government could care less about giving up any power they steal. You can write letters all you want,you would be lucky if they even read them much less do anything you ask of them. There is only one way to fix this now, and we all know what that is.
I have wrote letters in the past, in my younger dumber days, before I actually knew how this World works. You will get no fruit from the Poison Tree. Do you think people have not been trying to restore the Second Amendment fully since the National Firearms Act of 1934? It is now 2017, 83 years latter, how has writing letters so far went? Can I now again order a FA weapon from the Sears catalog and have it delivered in my mail box? No I can’t.
We are moving into less freedom every day in this country not more, not just in guns in everything. I figured out decades ago what it takes to get freedom back after it’s stolen. If and when it gets to that point, and provided I am still alive and able to do any fighting, I will show you what I id for and will do for this Country and my rights.
” lots of people refuse to ‘take part’ in the permit system, but also refuse to ‘take part’ in getting it changed.”
I am doing more than most just by not supporting tyranny by buying a permit to begin with. By buying a permit you are funding tyranny, you may as well be donating cash to Al Quida as far as I am concerned. Demand Constitutional carry, and if you can’t get that from them, do it anyway is the way I see it. You have no rights you are afraid to exercise. I was in the U.S Army 8 years in a Combat MOS, and I refuse to give up my rights. I am prepared to fight and die for them, and have been since I was 20. I was prepared to die for your rights when I as 17, which was the year I signed the paper.
I swore to uphold the Constitution, and this never expires.
What are you talking about? Considering what progress has been made on this front, peacefully informing people has worked.
“What are you talking about? Considering what progress has been made on this front, peacefully informing people has worked.”
I thought we was talking about the Government. Name all this progress you speak about, then I can show tons in the reverse.
It doesn’t really matter how much goes in what way. Your point that there is only “one way” to change things is disproven by the fact that things changed through voting.
We don’t get to vote on these gun laws bud, I’m 48 and I never once had a vote, and neither did you. No, the fact is, they rarely give up any ground. Keep thinking you are going to turn it around by writing letters if it makes you feel good, but if you are smart stock back as much ammo as you can, because another Port Arthur massacre or England could be a day away. At the stroke of a pen they can take it all away. They have did it around the World, and history proves me right on this.
In England they gave them the right to have handguns, then they required them to register them, then they took them. Just because it appears sometimes like we may be gaining ground, that doesn’t mean we are. The fact is in the 60’s we had a lot damn more gun rights than we do now. In the 80’s I even carried a gun in my truck to school. Try that now. You know what else I could do in the 80’s? I could walk into a drug store and buy an assault rifle, an AK47, FAL, and even an Egyption Madi that had everything short of the selector switch. We have lost more than most people notice. I could buy as many guns as I want without doing a NICKS check, which is more of a way to keep track of who has what than it is anything else. The fact is, the Government rarely gives up any power they steal or get even by voting.
Where I live, we didn’t have a wheel tax. They told everyone they was just going to do it for 1 year to build a new school, that was over a decade ago and we still have that tax, no new school was built, and it has went up several times including this year. I told everyone not to vote for that as it would be permanent, and I was right, I usually am.
So guess what, the other county right by it has it too now, that’s how this shit works. England has cameras everywhere, now we do too. Germany had red light cameras in the 80’s, and now so do we. I knew we would get them within a few decades as soon as I saw the damn thing, and I was right almost to the day with my 20 year prediction.
Believe what you want, but be prepared to dance when it don’t work out.
Okay, now I understand. We should just stay silent and let them do what they want, and hope and wish… got it. Hope that works out well for you.
I’m in the same club. I don’t ask or pay for my rights. Its inconceivable to me that anyone would do so.
As far as petitioning the government or making calls, yes I have and still do so. However it’s a lot like pissing into the wind. Accomplishes little more than I feel better but now have a wet leg and need a bath. Demanding that the almighty state give up some of its stolen power rarely goes anywhere. The only way it will happen is if everyone stops playing the game. Just carry and be done with it.
Firstly, I don’t change things by writing letters. I change them by voting for people who have made issues I support their policies.
Secondly, just because things we lost rights for a while doesn’t mean they can’t be earned back.
In my state, you used to have a waiting period to buy a gun. People lobbied and had that changed. Bye bye waiting period.
In my state you used to need to have your gun uncovered when you were in a car. People changed that too.
Towns used to be able to have ordinances that made concealed carry a nightmare. That changed too.
And before any of that, it was completely illegal to carry a concealed weapon.
The Clinton Assault Weapon Ban came and it ended.
And WTF is a wheel tax?
A wheel tax is a tax added to license plate renewal on your car each year, basically more palm greasing to exercise your right to drive your car. You know, you could just google that, seems several States have it.
Thanks Wade for stating your opinion above (which exactly like mine) better than I have ever myself (on here).
“….but carry anyway if I feel I need too.” Concealed, no doubt. You see, you don’t really “have” your rights. You aren’t doing anything defiantly. You’re sneaking around. You’re spiriting away and sheltering your rights to the point that they are, for practical purposes, privileges. After all, there’s no consequence to what you’re doing.
Now, if you were willing to declare, publicly, to local officials, what you were doing, then you might have something there. Then you’d become a court test case. As it is, your practice of your 2A rights is tantamount practicing your 1A rights by going deep into the woods and whispering among the trees.
As for the Founders, they declared their intentions, gave their reasons, signed their names, and committed their lives and fortunes to the cause. They didn’t skulk around in silence and just pretend they had founded a country, taking King George’s inaction at their non-event as some sort of victory over England.
How many cooments before this section is hijacked by the California, Illinois and even Texas crowd?
Over/Under is 4 comments before one of the three states and 15 comments before all three states are mentioned.
That’s a trick. You already mentioned all the states, and since your standard was “mentioned”, you’ve already won.
Coastal people aren’t idiots in everything.
No. They said 15 before all are mentioned and so they must not be counting this one…. By the way California is wetting its shorts by the cascade of constitutional carry. =D
Dang it!
I don’t get it. Your big prediction is that the conversation will likely soon include the perspective from the several of the largest and most influential states on this topic?
Tell us more, Kreskin! Will the Sun come up tomorrow?
It remains to be seen if it can clear the ‘good ole boys’ and institutionalized racism we still have to deal with in Montgomery.
Also, NV may join the ‘potential’ race this year. We’ll see how that goes over in Clark County *eyeroll*
Racism mostly by the democrat party is what started the whole ask and pay for your rights in the first place. They did it with voting rights as well. However unlike voting rights the courts are fine with people asking and paying for rights to the state.
The way I see it is if poll taxes are unconstitutional then there is no question that a poll tax to bear arms is equally unconstitutional. Arguing that public safety is at stake is nothing more than a lame excuse and designed mainly to keep the poor and people of color unarmed. Any judge or other government official who disagrees should be shot or strung up immediately.
I agree 110%
I’m so over being told that certain behaviors that affect no one else are prohibited. And when you ask why, all you get is either “it’s the law/public safety/officer safety/common sense/you might go crazy and murder up all the babies”, or just a blank stare. All it does is breed contempt for the lawful institutions of society. It blows my mind how anyone can support this crap.
If all of the states with Constitution carry pass that will bring total to nearly half of the US
“Constitutional carry” is feel-good branding for those who get it. I don’t mind special handshakes and greetings among the converted, but have a care not to feed the “seekret society weirdos” slander — BUT messaging for the unconverted ought to be chosen for how it works with, you know, the unconverted.
Maybe “carry rights”, or “universal carry”, or something that calls back to selective enforcement and Jim Crow.
Getting legislation and regulation aligned with the US constitution is a separate issue, no matter how legit. Indeed, I think we have a better path to resolving constitutional issues constitutionally if we untangle the gun problem independently, first. As Lady Thatcher said: “First you win the argument. Then you win the election.”
That is one of the few good things about having only one police force per state and no local city or county forces in Australia.
None of the fees or fines goes to the individual officers so there is no incentive to make up extra payments.
The moment someone can take money corruption starts.
“Let freedom ring.”
Great news! We Alabamians have our own little version of Chicago going on. It’s call Birmingham.
Yep, Sheriff Wally Olson used B’ham in his example of why we simply must keep the permit system and shut down SB24… He said they’ve had 21 murders in B’ham so far this year, and just think how high it would be if we didn’t have the permit vetting system that we have now. Really? So he’s going to argue that murders DIDN’T take place (unspecified number, of course) because x number of criminals (again, unspecified number) applied for permits and were denied, so they changed their ways and decided to NOT murder someone… yeah, it’s as stupid as hell. He gave some other stupid examples, straight out of the Alabama Sheriff’s Association’s talking points. Of course, all lies…
It is so incredible that within my lifetime the country has basically gone from no carry anywhere to carry in 80% of the places. And we are only picking up steam. The next 4 years will hopefully be great for the gun rights community.
Is there any published account of the revenue stream for each Alabama Sheriff’s Pistol Permit Fund? If not why?
Perhaps TTAG can find out!
god bless. America the constitution and the 2nd amendment. Too hell with the libera democrats.
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