Aug 29, 2011 – Uploaded by MidwayUSA
The Winchester model 1873 is commonly referred to as “the gun that won the west.” In this GunTec …
An Alabama House committee Wednesday approved a bill that would allow the permitless carry of pistols in the state, sending an Alabama House GOP priority bill to that chamber.
The 8 to 5 vote on the bill from Rep. Shane Stringer, R-Citronelle, took place after an hour of contentious debate that crossed party lines..
Stringer argued that the legislation would allow law-abiding citizens to carry weapons without fear of legal retribution, and said permit laws did not deter crime.
“The fact of the matter is criminals don’t adhere to laws,” Stringer said. “They don’t obey the laws we have now. We cannot legislate an evil heart from Montgomery.”
RELATED:Permitless carry bill sparks emotional debate in Alabama House committee
The bill passed with an amendment that would require gun owners to declare that they were carrying firearms when asked by a police officer. But there was confusion about a second amendment proposed by Rep. Proncey Robertson, R-Mount Hope, that appeared to create separate penalties for bringing firearms in areas where they are currently restricted and led Stringer to call Rep. Mike Jones, R-Andalusia, not a member of the committee, to explain it.
Rep. Allen Farley, R-McCalla, a retired assistant sheriff for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, said getting rid of the permits would amount to “defunding the police” and endanger law enforcement officers.
“It amazes me that you’ve got a bill like this that has gone back and forth between attorneys, and the sponsor of the bill can’t explain it,” he said.
Stringer’s bill says there is no “general prohibition on the carrying of a pistol without a permit.” It would not get rid of gun permits, which would still be needed in certain areas or when crossing state lines. It would also keep existing restrictions on carrying pistols on private property and at schools. A person with a concealed weapon would need the explicit permission of a private property owner to do so. But it would drop the legal liabilities for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
The bill would also drop a provision of the law that requires those without a concealed carry permit to keep firearms unloaded and secured when driving.
The bill has drawn strong support from gun access groups, who note that Alabama is already an open carry state and argue the permit requirement infringes on the Second Amendment. Law enforcement officials, the Association of County Commissions of Alabama and gun regulation groups oppose the measure, citing an increase in gun violence around the state and saying it would take away a tool used to detain people who have committed serious crimes.
“That tool is very effective and allows us to do that,” said Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones, who attended Wednesday’s hearing. “If the permit requirement goes away, then that going to remove that tool from our law enforcement officers around the state of Alabama.”
Stringer dismissed similar arguments in committee, saying the presence of a firearm did not necessarily mean the owner had committed a crime.
“In the United States, we are innocent until proven guilty, and the mere presence of a weapon does not justify a crime,” Stringer said.
The committee did approve an amendment from Rep. Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville, a retired law enforcement officer, that would require individuals to declare that they had weapons upon questions from a law enforcement officer. Reynolds abstained on the final vote for the bill.
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, said the adoption of the Reynolds amendment acknowledged that the bill “creates some dangerous trends.”
“While there is an overall acknowledgment that this does create danger on traffic stops, the political concerns are outweighing the actual safety concerns,” he said.
Eight Republicans – Dickie Drake of Leeds; Tracey Estes of Winfield; Tommy Hanes of Scottsboro; Phillip Pettus of Killen; Robertson; Randall Shedd of Fairview and Stringer voted for the bill. It was Shedd’s first day on the committee.
Farley joined England and three other Democrats – Thomas Jackson of Thomasville; Jeremy Gray of Opelika and TaShina Morris of Montgomery – in voting against the bill. Reynolds and Rep. Harry Shiver, R-Bay Minette, abstained.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alabama had the fifth-highest rate of death from gun violence among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2019. There were 22.2 gun deaths per 100,000 people in Alabama that year. 1,076 Alabamians died by guns that year, compared to 804 in New York, a state with four times Alabama’s population.
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.
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The Springfield Armory SA-35
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I’m ready for when SHTF!
In May of 1861, 9 year old John Lincoln “Johnny” Clem ran away from his home in Newark, Ohio, to join the Union Army, but found the Army was not interested in signing on a 9 year old boy when the commander of the 3rd Ohio Regiment told him he “wasn’t enlisting infants,” and turned him down.
Clem tried the 22nd Michigan Regiment next, and its commander told him the same. Determined, Clem tagged after the regiment, acted out the role of a drummer boy, and was allowed to remain. Though still not regularly enrolled, he performed camp duties and received a soldier’s pay of $13 a month, a sum collected and donated by the regiment’s officers.
The next April, at Shiloh, Clem’s drum was smashed by an artillery round and he became a minor news item as “Johnny Shiloh, The Smallest Drummer”.
A year later, at the Battle Of Chickamauga, he rode an artillery caisson to the front and wielded a musket trimmed to his size. In one of the Union retreats a Confederate officer ran after the cannon Clem rode with, and yelled, “Surrender you damned little Yankee!” Johnny shot him dead. This pluck won for Clem national attention and the name “Drummer Boy of Chickamauga.”
Clem stayed with the Army through the war, served as a courier, and was wounded twice. Between Shiloh and Chickamauga he was regularly enrolled in the service, began receiving his own pay, and was soon-after promoted to the rank of Sergeant. He was only 12 years old. After the Civil War he tried to enter West Point but was turned down because of his slim education. A personal appeal to President Ulysses S. Grant, his commanding general at Shiloh, won him a 2nd Lieutenant’s appointment in the Regular Army on 18 December 1871, and in 1903 he attained the rank of Colonel and served as Assistant Quartermaster General. He retired from the Army as a Major General in 1916, having served an astounding 55 years.
General Clem died in San Antonio, Texas on 13 May 1937, exactly 3 months shy of his 86th birthday, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
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The S&W 38/44
