MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Lawmakers on Thursday voted to create a conference committee to discuss legislation that would do away with the requirement to get a state permit to carry a concealed handgun.
The Alabama House of Representatives on Wednesday voted 71-13 to reject Alabama Senate changes to the House-passed bill and send the bill to a conference committee. The Alabama Senate agreed Thursday. A conference committee will try to work out differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.
Republican Rep. Shane Stringer, the legislation’s sponsor, said he is concerned about a Senate change to the bill. It would allow a law enforcement officer, who had a reasonable suspicion that a person was about to engage in criminal conduct, to temporarily take a person’s weapon and run it through databases to see if the gun was stolen and to also check the person’s criminal history.
The legislation is championed by gun rights advocates who call it “constitutional carry” and argue that people should not have to get a permit, which requires a background check and a fee, to carry a concealed handgun. Opponents, including state sheriffs and others in law enforcement, said the permits help combat crime and enhance public safety.
Proponents of the bill noted there are 21 states that allow concealed weapons in public without a permit.
Opponents have pointed to the state’s already high rate of gun violence. Alabama in 2020 had the country’s fifth-highest rate of gun-related deaths – including suicides and murders — with 1,141 deaths, according to numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.