Thursday, April 20, 2017

Alabama Senate Passes Constitutional Carry






The Alabama legislature is moving toward passing Constitutional Carry. The bill, SB 24, has passed the Senate, 26 to 8 on Tuesday, 18 April, 2017.  The bill would enforce the Alabama Constitutional amendment passed in 2014.

Amendment 3 passed with 72.5% of the vote in 2014. SB24 is the legislature enforcing the Constitutional amendment with statutory reform. Here is a description of Amendment 3. From ballotpedia:
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to provide that every citizen has a fundamental right to bear arms and that any restriction on this right would be subject to strict scrutiny; and to provide that no international treaty or law shall prohibit, limit, or otherwise interfere with a citizen's fundamental right to bear arms.
SB24 removes the requirement to have a permit in order for people to exercise their fundamental right to bear arms under the Alabama Constitution, and under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.

According to the NRA-ILA, the bill is likely to be assigned to the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee.  The Chairman of the committee is Allen Treadaway.  Treadaway is a police officer as well as a legislator. From legislature.state.al.us:
He was born on September 25, 1961, and received his Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission from the Birmingham Police Academy. Representative Treadaway serves as a Police Captain with the City of Birmingham.

In 2010, he received a 92% rating from the NRA political victory fund.

Allen Treadaway voted to put amendment 3 on the ballot. If SB24 is approved by Treadaway's committee, it will likely pass in the House. The NRA-ILA is providing a link to contact Treadaway. If the bill passes the House, it would be sent to Governor Kay Ivy.

Governor Ivy received an A rating and an endorsement from the NRA-ILA in 2014.  From al.com:
The National Rifle Association has issued its endorsements and grades in a number of Alabama races, and big endorsement winners are incumbent Gov. Robert Bentley and Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey.

Bentley and Ivey are both Republican incumbents elected in 2010 who face primary opposition. Not only did both earn A grades, they won endorsements.
Alabama is on track to be the third state to pass Constitutional carry this year. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed a bill that brought New Hampshire into the Constitutional carry club on 22 February, 2017.  North Dakota's bill was signed into law by Governor Dick Burgun on 23 March, 2017.

There are 13 current members of the Constitutional Carry Club. They are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, and West Virginia.

Vermont was the only Constitutional Carry state until 2003, when Alaska passed its modernization bill. Arizona was next, in 2010. Since 2010, ten more states have modernized state law to reflect respect for the exercise of the Second Amendment.

Several other states have legislation introduced or in process.  Indiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virgina, Utah, and Wisconsin all introduced bills in 2017. North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin bills are currently in play.

Montana passed a "permitless" carry bill for the third time this year. The bill would have extended "permitless" carry to the 1% of the state where a permit is required, but it was vetoed for a second time by Governor Bullock. South Dakota passed a Constitutional Carry bill for the second time, to have it vetoed the second time by Governor Daugaard.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

Gun Watch

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some one correct me, I thought it was unconstitutional (Illegal) to hold two government positions at the same time. this guy gets paid by the year for the position of legislator and for the position of police chief. there is no problem if he is a farmer or a business owner or a factory worker when not in legislative session but he can not hold two government jobs at the same time. I could care less what his political ideology is this is a constitutional question. is it legal to hold two government jobs at the same time? that seems to me to be double dipping for the retirement benefits. It may be a small point but I think it is a very important point. I see it as one of those little noticed issues of government corruption. He gets two retirements for the same years invested. You do not get to be a senator and a president at the same time. but the average tax payer does not realize a person that serves as a legislator and a president will Claim retirement from both positions. the laws allow them to claim retirement after completing one term. get elected once and get a life long retirement benefit. Only getting impeached and removed from office can cancel this benefit. check it out prove me wrong.

Dean Weingarten said...

Both positions may be part time, or the police position may be voluntary.

Alternatively, he may keep the title but have given up the pay for the police position.

Anonymous said...

I think the laws actually states you can not hold two government positions at the same time. the internet says James Comey was replaced by Trey Gowdy. Gowdy is a senator from North Carolina so Gowdy has not been named the new FBI director the FBI just has to report to him until he takes the position of new Director at the end of his senatorial term. He is on the senate government oversight committee as chairman. I would be interested to know how either position could be part time. If you fill the slot, you fill the slot. Gowdy has not been named Director of the FBI. the person in question claims to hold both positions.

Anonymous said...

They used to have problems like this in the old west. the sheriff, the judge and the mayor were the same person, The sheriff arrested you the judge tried you and the mayor made sure every body was paid out of the fines collected.