Marla Jones, Managing Editor
ALABAMA-- On January 1, 2023, House Bill 272, also known as the Constitutional Carry Bill, ended the need to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun or to carry one in a car, went into effect.
Rep. Shane Stringer, a Republican from Mobile County, along with Sen. Gerald Allen, R- Tuscaloosa, sponsored the bill.
Alabama is an “open carry” state meaning that it was legal to carry a handgun if uncovered. The permit, until now, only applied if the gun was not visible, such as under a shirt, in a purse, or in a vehicle.
Alabama now joins twenty-one other states that have a constitutional-carry law in place. The passage received objections from several organizations, including:The Alabama Sheriffs Association, the Association of School Resource Officers and the Association of County Commissioners.
Sheriffs across Alabama stated the requirement for a permit and a background check was a safety feature for law enforcement and the public alike.
Southern Torch reached out to DeKalb County Sheriff Nick Welden for his opinion on House Bill 272 and the effects that it would have on his office..
“First and foremost I support the 2nd amendment right. The right to protect you, your family and your property should be supported by all Sheriffs across the entire Country not just the Great State of Alabama '' stated DeKalb County Sheriff Nick Welden.
‘The issue that will come into play with the Constitutional Carry is the lack of education that was put out explaining the laws behind it. I’ve tried pushing as much needed info out as I could via radio and social media.”
An issue of the House 272, or Constitutional Carry Bill, that most are uninformed on, is that it is not recognized in every state.
“The bottom line is if you plan to cross state lines with your firearm you STILL NEED a conceal carry permit” stated Welden. “Just because Alabama passed the constitutional carry doesn’t mean all other states allow it. It is specifically designed for the residence of their state”.
“It will be confusing for many citizens that’s why it has to be publicized on the jurisdictional effect of concealed carry. It will definitely make our job harder , before if someone was carrying and didn’t have a permit and needed to be arrested it would give us (LEO’S) a way to prevent a possible violent situation from happening. Now we simply can’t do that. So it definitely has pros and cons on both sides of the new constitutional carry law.” stated Welden. “It only hurts the public’s safety when things like this happen but we will continue to do what we do”.
Sheriff offices across the state benefited from the sale of gun permits. These funds helped in training and helped fund parts of the School Resource Officer program.
“As far as the financial effect it will play on ALL Sheriffs offices across the state it will be a devastating period. We utilized that funding for school safety, training and needed equipment to do our job effectively” stated Sheriff Nick Welden.
“ We had just got to the point of SROs in every school, K9’s for school safety, public shooting range and safety/self defense courses, updated equipment for our officers to be top notch protecting our children and advanced training programs we’ve never had at DCSO” continued Welden. “It’s definitely gonna be tough moving forward without that funding and I’m really unsure of the impact it will play on our office future wise. We have definitely leaned very hard on the DeKalb County Commission and the DeKalb County Board of Education to help with the missing funding and they have definitely helped a lot but I know it’s like everything sooner or later they will not have funding to spare. We just gotta pray hard and keep doing what’s right and the Lord will provide” stated Welden.
“There is currently a Grant process offered by the State to try to help with the loss we have suffered. It just takes time and during the waiting time there are gonna be some tough financial times for our office no doubt” Welden concluded.
