When the Alabama state legislature passed a law striking down the requirement that someone have a permit in order to carry a concealed firearm, it may have surprised some that a large number of Alabama sheriffs -- many of them Republican -- and police chiefs opposed the measure.
A reason commonly floated was that sheriff's offices were going to miss out on all those permit fees that've been a part of their budgets for years. But there's something else: The old requirement could be seen as a tool for law enforcement to disarm less responsible gun toters who may be up to no good.
AL.com's John Sharp reports that Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch wants at least a partial change to the current permitless-carry law. He'd like the state to require a concealed permit of people under age 21.
Burch said that there has been a rise in people that young being involved in gun- and gang-related violence over the past year.
“I agree with the argument that the people committing these crimes will get a gun regardless of what the law said,” he said. “But right now, we don’t have the ability to take it from them.”
He said he plans to take his idea to lawmakers. The Republican legislature made Alabama the 25th state to go permitless, as a wave of state-level measures passed during the 2022 election year.
That may leave Burch's proposal with little more than a lottery's chance on Goat Hill this time around.
