Alabama Open Carry?

Does Alabama now allow open carry? I am referring to having a gun license. A couple reasons I ask is - for one, I did not see a petition to open carry for Alabama and the other reason is that I was down in the Rogersville area a few months ago visiting my daughter and her husband. On top of his (son-in-law) regular job, he is a reserve officer for an area (I believe) just East of Rogersville.

We got talking about gun carry, such as Indiana and it's provision for open OR concealed carry and he was somewhat shocked that we have open carry and he said when he is on duty and if he sees someone with a gun visibly on them, he said he draws his service pistol on them and disarms them etc. Obviously, he claims it is illegal to open carry (with license) in Alabama. Is it?

Assuming open carry is prohibited in AL, I think his mentioned response is nonsensical. I'll try to explain my thinking. Let's assume he is right. Why in the world would he be okay with someone (let's say a traffic stop) having a gun he does not see, and therefore does not know about, versus a person with one he can see. Makes no sense to me.

I am sure I don't need to explain it any more in detail and all the hypothetical circumstances, as I am sure I am preaching to the choir. I did not want to insult him, especially since it was only the second time I had ever seen him since he married my daughter. BUT, my thoughts were along the lines that he will likely change his viewpoint when he gets older and more Leo time under his belt.

Has AL changed its carry options? Can you carry concealed or open - your choice?

Very simply, open carry is, and always has been, legal in the State of Alabama without a permit. When open carrying, the only time you must have a permit is when you get into a car.

A good place to start for the information you seek is http://alabamaopencarry.com/. Their first page has cites for all the court cases and AG opinions.

You might want to tell your son-in-law that, should he take the actions he spoke of, he is asking to be the subject of complaints and possible civil action.

I know you're trying to be diplomatic, so you may not want to go here, but...

I would ask him why he's allowed to open carry. Every cop I've run into thinks that there is some law that authorizes it, but no such law exists. There is simply no law against open carry. There is an exemption for police, marshals, rural mail carriers, etc., for concealed carry. Basically, you son-in-law can open carry for the same reason everyone else can: the right to bear arms is guaranteed by the Alabama constitution, and there can be no law prohibiting it.

GLockcarrier, your son-in-law is begging to be the star of a 42 USC 1983 lawsuit and if he keeps this action up someone, most likely sooner than later being what's going with the public and gun rights these days, will oblidge him at his expense. Tell him to look into what happened in St John vs Mccolley. Officer McColley had to pay Mr St. John approx $23k of his own money after a federal court ordered him to for doing a very similar thing to what you described your son-in-law doing.

Hope you enjoyed your trip to Alabama. Next time you're down here drop us a line and we'll let you know when and where our meetups are. I've never been through Lafayette, but I've got family near Fort Wayne. I hope you didn't go into shock seeing something other than corn for miles around.

Glockcarrier said:

Does Alabama now allow open carry? I am referring to having a gun license.

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As the others have said, Alabama has almost always allowed open carry without any license needed. (There was a five year period in the late '40s where it was illegal without a license, but that law was changed in '51.)

We got talking about gun carry, such as Indiana and it's provision for open OR concealed carry and he was somewhat shocked that we have open carry and he said when he is on duty and if he sees someone with a gun visibly on them, he said he draws his service pistol on them and disarms them etc.

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He's going to get himself shot doing stupid **** like that, and he's going to leave your daughter a widow. He needs to stick with his day job and leave the police business to real officers who have some semblance of how to approach people. That's not diplomatic, but it's the truth.

Has AL changed its carry options? Can you carry concealed or open - your choice?

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Yes! Alabama has changed the way it allows you to carry. Up until 1936 the only legal way to carry was openly. That was the year they first allowed concealed carry with a license. So really, anyone who thinks the law has changed to "allow" open carry has it exactly backwards.

Here are the gun laws for the state of AL: http://www.alabamaopencarry.com/docs/Alabama_Weapon_Law.pdf I can't find anywhere in it where it says that OC is illegal.

Local Police think so...

I called the local police department this week (Alexander City) and asked if we were an open carry state. Could we carry a handgun openly own our side without a permit the lady officer that answered the phone said yes you sure can. I replied great.. I even called Dadeville and they had to get an officer on the phone but his answer was also yes you can carry open with out a permit in Alabama. They didn't seem to have a question about it..

Not to be cantankerous, but what if they had said "No."? Would that make it any less legal?

If you want professional legal advice, hire an attorney. If you want an opinion just as good as any you'll find on the internet, then ask the police. But please, don't confuse the one for the other.