Monday on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” State Rep. Shane Stringer (R-Citronelle) discussed the upcoming legislative session set to begin in a few weeks when it is believed so-called constitutional permitless carry will be under consideration by the Alabama Legislature.
According to Stringer, more legislators were open to the possibility of permitless carry given the creation of the prohibited pistol-holder database by an act of the Alabama Legislature earlier in the quadrennium.
However, Stringer said the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA), which is tasked with creating the database, was being pressured to slow its development by some sheriffs.
“[I]’m getting word that some of the sheriffs are putting pressure on ALEA to slow this database down,” Stringer said. “You know, that concerns me. That doesn’t sound like someone who is concerned with officer safety or community safety if they’re trying to slow a tool down that could potentially save lives and save officer lives.”
When pressed, the Mobile County Republican lawmaker said the pressure campaign on ALEA was in the form of calls from sheriffs and other permitless carry opponents to high-ranking ALEA officials.
Stringer likened the tactics he claimed were being used by sheriffs opposing the bill to something out of the “Democrat playbook.”
“There’s a lot of sheriffs who support this bill, this law, and have reached out to me to let me know that,” he said. “You know, the only thing that I have seen come out from the sheriffs’ association was when the law enforcement officer up in Wilcox County was killed a couple of months before Christmas. The sheriffs’ association sent out an email making an issue of his death and relating it to this bill. But that deputy was shot and killed with a long gun, which has nothing to do with permits or this bill.”
“You know, Jeff, they’re playing right out of the Democrat playbook,” Stringer continued. “I mean, they’re doing the same things, the same tactics the Democrats have used forever to take guns from people. And that fear factor — they’re coming in and trying to say we’re defunding law enforcement. That’s never been further from the truth. We have one of the pro-[law enforcement] legislative groups that supports law enforcement in every aspect, including funding if we need to. Every time ALEA or any aspect of DOT have come to the legislature for money to hire more officers, equipment, anything — we have provided it.”
“You know, this is just straight-up Democrat tactics,” he added. “You know, trying to call around to the school systems, telling them that criminals, anybody can tote guns in a sporting event and in the schools. That’s not true. It’s the same places you cannot carry now is the same places you cannot carry if this bill passes.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
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