Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Speaks Out Against Permitless Carry Law

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ron Abernathy is the latest elected leader and law enforcement official to speak out about the problems raised by a new law that repealed Alabama's pistol permit requirement for concealed handguns.

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This comes after Patch previously reported that the City of Tuscaloosa is considering seeking an opinion from the Alabama Attorney General's Office on the matter, primarily with regards to the lack of a punishment in the statute for those who violate the "duty to inform" provision.

Abernathy agreed, calling the legislation a "very bad bill" in the way it is written.

"It doesn't make a lot of sense, it's not very organized and it makes it very confusing not just for the officer, but for the citizens out there," he told Patch on Thursday. "Personally, I think it really puts the citizen in a bad position because even today you can go down to Florida, somebody might think it's ok to go down there with their gun and they could end up getting charged with a felony, 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."

Duty to inform legally requires a gun owner with a concealed weapon to inform law enforcement that they have a gun when asked by a sworn officer. However, as Patch previously reported, there are no penalties on the books to accompany any violations of the duty to inform statute in the new law.

The law reads: Any person who knowingly possesses a pistol or firearm concealed on or about his or her person or in a vehicle occupied by the person, and who is asked by a law enforcement officer operating in the line or scope of his or her official duties whether he or she is armed with a concealed pistol or firearm, shall immediately inform the law enforcement officer that the person is in possession of a pistol or firearm.

Still, issues apart from safety have also been raised, most notably the impact to law enforcement agency revenue previously generated by the selling of pistol permits.

Abernathy said due to the funding from the County Commission, revenue has not been a concern for his agency after the legislation went into effect on Jan. 1.

"This is not about finances ... this is about what's right and wrong," he said. "Us, TPD, Northport and UA talk constantly because it's the same problems we're all facing and, right now, we're not sure what to actually charge them with because there's no punishment actually put into this bill."

Newly sworn-in Lamar County Sheriff Marty Gottwald, however, said his much-smaller department was dependent on the revenue from pistol permit sales and lamented the law effectively slashing his budget as soon as he entered office.

"We face the same issues our larger counties have as far as budgets," he told Patch. "The pistol fund has been a source of revenue for us, there's no question about that and that was used by our department to fund training and equipment."

Patch has reported extensively on the opposition to the permitless carry legislation before and after its passage and implementation, with groups such as the Alabama Sheriffs Association and the Alabama Association of Chiefs of Police speaking out about officer safety and the loss of revenue.

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

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