MONTGOMERY-Alabama residences with permits to carry concealed handguns may have them loaded in their vehicles and take them to their employers’ parking lots beginning Thursday, August 1st.
County sheriffs also will have to specify why they reject someone’s concealed weapons permit. Reasons for rejecting concealed weapons permits can include documented mental illness or reasonable suspicion that the person may use a weapon unlawfully. Rejected applicants will be able to appeal the sheriff’s decision.
People who want to carry their pistols unconcealed can be assured that it is legal statewide, and local communities cannot stop them. The new law states it is not a crime of disorderly conduct to carry a visible pistol, holstered or secured, in a public place.
The new law states: a person can’t carry a pistol on property “… not his own or under his control unless the person 
possesses a valid concealed weapon permit or the person has the consent of the owner or legal possessor of the premises.”
It will now be up to business and property owners …whoever they might be; grocery stores, gas stations, restaurants or bars even high school sporting events to say that handguns are or are not permitted on their premises. Those and other provisions involving gun permits are products of the new state gun bill passed by the Legislature earlier this year.
This bill has been dubbed the “omnibus” state gun bill because the 36-page document clarifies and changes several state laws.
Senator Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, said the law is common sense and protects Second Amendment rights.
The New Gun Law a Quick Glance:
- Allows concealed weapons permit holders to carry a loaded handgun in their vehicle. Without the permit, a pistol must be unloaded and locked in a compartment or container out of reach of driver and passenger.
- Allows for concealed carrying of a pistol on someone else’s private property with a permit or permission.
- Legalizes carrying a visible, holstered pistol in a public place.
- Allows a person to carry unconcealed on property not his own if he or she has permission from the property owner. That permission can be implied, so businesses must post notices or tell people directly they don’t want guns on their property.
- Allows an employee to bring a pistol to a work site and leave it in a vehicle, if the person has a concealed carry permit; a rifle or shotgun if they have a hunting license and it is hunting season. An employee cannot be terminated based on the presence of a weapon in compliance with the law. The bill also provides immunity for employers in the case of a workplace shooting.
- Broadens the definition of “crimes of violence” and expands who may not own a handgun to include anyone who has committed a Class A felony and any Class B felony that “has an element (of) serious physical injury.”
