There are a lot of reasons to carry a firearm. Almost all of them revolve around being able to protect yourself. There are bad people all over the place, and while the police are our natural allies--in most cases, at least--the truth of the matter is that they can't be everywhere.
And an Alabama bill seeks to put people carrying lawfully at risk of being shot by the police.
There are some states where, if you're carrying a gun and the police pull you over, you're required to tell them you're carrying a firearm. In theory, this means that the police will know there's a gun present and act accordingly. In reality, it heightens the anxiety for many officers, and dealing with such things has led to people being shot.
The Alabama bill would require people to tell the police if they're carrying a firearm.
Alabama repealed the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed handgun three years ago, a move supported by 2nd Amendment advocates and gun rights groups like the National Rifle Association.
The Alabama Sheriffs Association and many others in law enforcement opposed the bill, saying the permits were an important tool to fight gun violence.
To help overcome opposition to the bill, lawmakers added a clause that required people to disclose to police if they have a gun concealed under their clothes or in a vehicle, if police ask, such as during a traffic stop.But that failure to inform clause carried no penalty. That means the clause about lying to police can’t be enforced, according to an opinion issued by the Alabama attorney general in 2023.
Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, has proposed a bill that would make it a Class A misdemeanor to lie to police about having a concealed gun. A Class A misdemeanor carries a jail sentence of up to a year and a fine of up to $6,000.
The Alabama House Judiciary Committee held a public hearing on England’s bill Wednesday. Two citizens and a lobbyist for the NRA spoke in opposition to it.
I get that the Alabama Sheriffs Association may have had some opposition to constitutional carry in the state, but let's be real here. A duty to inform law--which, without a penalty isn't really a law, and this would change that--doesn't keep officers safe. The bad guys usually aren't going to be open and honest with law enforcement as a general thing. They're not going to tell them that they've got a fully-automatic machine pistol stuffed in their pants.
But what does happen is that police get worried about someone with a gun. In their line of work, that goes with the territory, in part because things go sideways so often, even in situations you wouldn't think would, so yeah, they're going to be concerned.
And innocent movements can result in innocent people being injured or killed.
Philando Castile was shot and killed by police while trying to get his wallet during a traffic stop, all while trying to explain what he was reaching for.
More recently, a man was shot in Jacksonville, Florida after he told an officer he was lawfully carrying a firearm. One officer tried to disarm him and negligently shot him in the leg with his own weapon. He survived the injury, but says he's unable to work because of the incident which took place in December.
What this law is designed to do is to make things more risky for law-abiding citizens carrying their firearms in accordance with the law, mostly in hopes of keeping people from doing it out of concern that they'll be injured or killed by police.
The NRA is opposing the bill, but pretty much everyone else who values the right to keep and bear arms does as well.