BamaCarry Defends New Handgun Law As Written, Despite Law Enforcement Concerns

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa-based Second Amendment advocacy group BamaCarry says Alabama's newest gun law on the books does not need to be amended following questions and opposition by law enforcement at the local level.

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As Patch previously reported, Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy referred to the legislation repealing the state's pistol permit requirement as a "very bad bill," while City of Tuscaloosa officials are pondering seeking an opinion from the Alabama Attorney General over a lack of a penalty stated in the law for violation of a gun owner's "duty to inform" law enforcement.

The new law went into effect Jan. 1 after passing the state legislature during the 2022 session.

BamaCarry, Inc. founder Eddie Fulmer was central in the statewide lobby's effort last year to finally get the bill passed after numerous failed attempts and told Patch he didn't understand why anyone would be against a law that only allows a law abiding citizen to carry a weapon.

He also said the proposed changes to the law, namely proposed penalties for violating the "duty to inform" statute, constitute a violation of the Fourth Amendment (unreasonable search and seizures) and the Fifth Amendment.

"I’m stopped for running a stop sign and the officer wants to disarm me and run the numbers on my gun," Fulmer said. "Disarming a law abiding citizen for no reason other than this is insulting and degrading and will bring nothing but more bad feelings from the public toward law enforcement that we do not need. This brings back memories of the Nazis in Germany.

"This law only allows a law abiding citizen to carry," Fulmer added. "If a law enforcement officer, during the course of doing his job, is concerned about a person's qualifications to carry, all he has to do is look them up in the [Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's] new Prohibited Person’s Database. If the person is not found, then by definition they are qualified to carry."

Alabama has allowed for open carry without a pistol permit for years, but many gun rights advocates have argued against the pistol permit requirement for concealed carry, which includes carrying a loaded handgun within reach in one's vehicle.

And as it stands, municipalities in Alabama are barred from superseding state statutes with respect to gun laws, which means any changes to the law must come from the legislature.

ALSO READ: God, Guns & The GOP: Inside The BamaCarry 2022 State Convention

State Rep. Ron Bolton, a Republican from Northport and retired Northport Police Department captain, told Patch that while he wasn't in office during the last legislative session when the bill passed, he did advocate for it.

"Of course I’m a retired police officer, but I also spent more than 20 years training officers and instructors in survival tactics at the department and academy level and around the region," he said. "The key thing for any officer is to always assume that the person you are dealing with is armed, and treat them with respect while being prepared to respond to threatening behavior."

The first-term lawmaker then explained that a number of the co-sponsors and supporters of the bill were former and current law enforcement officers.

"The main issue I’m hearing is the lack of an enforcement mechanism for people who fail to inform an officer that they are armed," Bolton said. "Maybe that could be worked with within reason, we’ll just have to see."

Fulmer then argued that in each of the 26 states that have passed permitless carry legislation, his grassroots group and others have been met with the "same old used up arguments" advocates are seeing today amid the concerns over the new law in Alabama.

"Unfounded fear mongering, yet nothing changes concerning officer safety," he said. "A government permission slip has never saved anyone but has killed law abiding citizens who want to be legal. Respecting 'Gun Free Zones' and other restricted places has put law abiding citizens at risk. This is unacceptable at best. I truly expected better from our [Alabama Sheriffs Association or ASA] and leaders in the law enforcement community. What the ASA fails to understand is that 'criminals' don’t follow the law. They will have a gun even though they are prohibited from having them."

Indeed, the Alabama Sheriffs Association has been the most vocal opponent of the permitless carry law, expressing concerns ranging from the loss of revenue from pistol permit sales to worries over the safety of deputies.

Additionally, Abernathy told Patch on Thursday that one of his biggest worries is for citizens who may not be familiar with the law traveling into other states that may require a pistol permit for concealed carry.

"Somebody might think it's ok to go down [to Florida] with their gun and they could end up getting charged with a felony," Abernathy said. "Just by going on vacation and happen to have a weapon, because they don't understand the law. I think we need to do a much better job of that and I'm hoping the legislators will go back and change some of this."

Still, Fulmer is vocal in his disagreement over the perception of threats to officer safety and the worries over loss of revenue, both longstanding talking points for BamaCarry.

"We checked, and researched, officer safety in other states before pushing permit less carry in Alabama. — nothing change, " he said. "No more officers were killed and there was no 'blood in the streets' as many claimed. Officer safety is a code word for permit money. It’s always been about the money."

He then cited documents obtained by BamaCarry that purport to show the Alabama Sheriffs Association informing county sheriffs that they would need to oppose the bill if they didn't want to lose their pistol permit revenue.

"We are not for, nor have we ever been for, defunding the police," Fulmer said in response to critics who insist the lack of pistol permit revenue will hurt smaller sheriff's offices. " We would be in favor more funding for our law enforcement officers. What we are against is a 'tax' on a law abiding citizen for trying to exercise their right of self-defense for themselves and their family. The funding can not be on the backs of a select few ... On the permit money being lost and not just being a tax on the gun owners, the fact is many of us pay for school taxes when we don't have any kids in school. It's not just a tax on parents with kids in school, it is shared among all citizens."

As local law enforcement leaders and local government officials work to make sense of the new law's impact on their day-to-day operations and out in the community, Fulmer lamented what he views as "fear mongering" coming from those in positions of authority.

"Many, including city attorneys, seem to be speaking on their opinion instead of the law," he said, seemingly referring to the City of Tuscaloosa considering whether or not it will seek an opinion from the Alabama Attorney General's Office. "Prohibited people are still prohibited. Law enforcement officer's have a new tool they can use to know almost immediately who is prohibited. They have a new database providing the law enforcement officers with a pretty good idea if the car they are approaching has an occupant that in it that is forbidden or could be a problem. Yet, all of a sudden, people are concerned and scared."

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