The Alabama legislature is moving toward passing constitutional carry. The bill, SB 24, has passed the Senate, 26 to 8 on Tuesday. 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’s a description of the amendment 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, a police officer as well as a legislator. In 2010, he received a 92% rating from the NRA political victory fund.
Treadaway voted to put amendment 3 on the ballot. If SB24 is approved by Treadaway’s committee, it will likely pass in the House as a whole. 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.
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 CC club in February. North Dakota’s bill was signed into law by Governor Dick Burgun in March.
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 then, ten more states have modernized their laws and the momentum has increased.
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 currently have bills in play.
Montana passed a “permitless” carry bill for the third time this year, but it was vetoed for a second time by Governor Steve Bullock. South Dakota passed a constitutional carry bill for the second time only to have it vetoed the second time by Governor Dennis Daugaard.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.