Open Carry Law

Let me begin by saying that I am not an anti-gun guy. I own several pistols/shotguns/rifles and in no way do I want the government to disarm us. That said, Alabama’s new gun law went into effect yesterday. Basically, among other things, you can now open carry a holstered pistol anywhere you want to, except places covered by Federal law like schools, banks, etc., and other State and local government buildings.

You can also openly cary around a shotgun or a rifle. This applies to public AND private property. The new law also moves us from a “may” issue State to a “shall” issue state on concealed carry permits. The local Sheriff has almost no discretion in issuing pistol permits now. This disaster waiting to happen was pushed through by the same jackass Alabama House member who has fostered other asinine legislation like our immigration law which is now under Federal Court scrutiny.

Just wonder what everybody else thinks about it and what kind of law you have in your state. Al.com has several articles about it if you want to check it out.

I’d rather see people open carry than guess if they are conceal carrying. Imo it’s offers a good deterrent factor.

MD law is awful, conceal carry permits are hard to come by (this is supposed to change due to a ruling a few months ago). MDers cannot buy assault rifles any longer and you must be finger printed for hand gun purchases. The new law goes into affect this month I think.

[quote]OldOgre wrote:
Let me begin by saying that I am not an anti-gun guy. I own several pistols/shotguns/rifles and in no way do I want the government to disarm us. That said, Alabama’s new gun law went into effect yesterday. Basically, among other things, you can now open carry a holstered pistol anywhere you want to, except places covered by Federal law like schools, banks, etc., and other State and local government buildings.

You can also openly cary around a shotgun or a rifle. This applies to public AND private property. The new law also moves us from a “may” issue State to a “shall” issue state on concealed carry permits. The local Sheriff has almost no discretion in issuing pistol permits now. This disaster waiting to happen was pushed through by the same jackass Alabama House member who has fostered other asinine legislation like our immigration law which is now under Federal Court scrutiny.

Just wonder what everybody else thinks about it and what kind of law you have in your state. Al.com has several articles about it if you want to check it out.

[/quote]

Mississippi is in the process of doing the same thing. I know that a lot of our law enforcement is dreading it. Actually we already had some language on the books that essentially made us an open carry state but they felt the need to re-word it and make it clearer they said. A court has put a halt to it right now and the state has ended up spending a fortune for a nothing really. I have seen many legislators say that they regret it.

I think that this open carry and even some of the relaxed concealed carry stuff has the potential to set back gun rights. The first time you get someone go all John Wayne trying to stop a shoplifter and people get caught in the crossfire things are going to crash hard.

I am somewhat surprised to find out you can’t already do this in those two states…

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
I am somewhat surprised to find out you can’t already do this in those two states…

[/quote]

We actually could. No one really did but for whatever reason they decided to “clean up the language of the law” and now it is costing us a fortune in tax dollars. Very stupid in my opinion.

Usmc, I completely do not understand the vilification of the assault rifle. It is such an insignificant source of gun violence it just makes no sense. If they went after handguns I could at least understand their thinking. And they talk about the quantity of damage they can do, but I still think that if you have two guys go into a building, one with a shotgun with a 10 rd mag of buckshot and the other with a 30 rd assault rifle, I am liking my odds much better against the assault rifle.

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
I am somewhat surprised to find out you can’t already do this in those two states…

[/quote]

You could as long as you were wearing your white robe and hood.

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
I’d rather see people open carry than guess if they are conceal carrying. Imo it’s offers a good deterrent factor.

MD law is awful, conceal carry permits are hard to come by (this is supposed to change due to a ruling a few months ago). MDers cannot buy assault rifles any longer and you must be finger printed for hand gun purchases. The new law goes into affect this month I think.

[/quote]

Most of the assault rifle bans actually do not pertain to assault rifles. That term is used incorrectly 99% of the time. If a weapon looks mean it is always called an assault weapon. In reality, if it doesn’t have selective fire, it isn’t an assault weapon.

[quote]jbpick86 wrote:

[quote]VTBalla34 wrote:
I am somewhat surprised to find out you can’t already do this in those two states…

[/quote]

We actually could. No one really did but for whatever reason they decided to “clean up the language of the law” and now it is costing us a fortune in tax dollars. Very stupid in my opinion.

Same in Alabama.

[quote]OldOgre wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
I’d rather see people open carry than guess if they are conceal carrying. Imo it’s offers a good deterrent factor.

MD law is awful, conceal carry permits are hard to come by (this is supposed to change due to a ruling a few months ago). MDers cannot buy assault rifles any longer and you must be finger printed for hand gun purchases. The new law goes into affect this month I think.

[/quote]

Most of the assault rifle bans actually do not pertain to assault rifles. That term is used incorrectly 99% of the time. If a weapon looks mean it is always called an assault weapon. In reality, if it doesn’t have selective fire, it isn’t an assault weapon.[/quote]

You are in danger of educating those that wish to keep their uneducated opinions and use them for fear mongering. That said I have actually gotten in the bad habit of forgetting my quotes around “assault” rifles when referring to black semi autos when speaking to someone who doesn’t know.

May to shall isn’t a big deal. It has acted as a shall issue state for some time. It’s a bad idea to have a sheriff determine your right to carry anyway. May issue was originally about keeping blacks from carrying anyway.

IMO, the second already guarantees open carry. If we really think that?s a bad idea, we need to re-define our rights in the constitution.

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
May to shall isn’t a big deal. It has acted as a shall issue state for some time. It’s a bad idea to have a sheriff determine your right to carry anyway. May issue was originally about keeping blacks from carrying anyway.

IMO, the second already guarantees open carry. If we really think that?s a bad idea, we need to re-define our rights in the constitution.
[/quote]

I agree ^ 2nd covers this already. We don’t need to waste tax dollars arguing about it.

[quote]jbpick86 wrote:

[quote]OldOgre wrote:
Let me begin by saying that I am not an anti-gun guy. I own several pistols/shotguns/rifles and in no way do I want the government to disarm us. That said, Alabama’s new gun law went into effect yesterday. Basically, among other things, you can now open carry a holstered pistol anywhere you want to, except places covered by Federal law like schools, banks, etc., and other State and local government buildings.

You can also openly cary around a shotgun or a rifle. This applies to public AND private property. The new law also moves us from a “may” issue State to a “shall” issue state on concealed carry permits. The local Sheriff has almost no discretion in issuing pistol permits now. This disaster waiting to happen was pushed through by the same jackass Alabama House member who has fostered other asinine legislation like our immigration law which is now under Federal Court scrutiny.

Just wonder what everybody else thinks about it and what kind of law you have in your state. Al.com has several articles about it if you want to check it out.

[/quote]

Mississippi is in the process of doing the same thing. I know that a lot of our law enforcement is dreading it. Actually we already had some language on the books that essentially made us an open carry state but they felt the need to re-word it and make it clearer they said. A court has put a halt to it right now and the state has ended up spending a fortune for a nothing really. I have seen many legislators say that they regret it. [/quote]

From my understanding it was an injunction by a small circuit court judge basically trying to feel important. The supreme court refused to hear it and sent it back down. Now, the injunction has passed.

Of course someone else could have filed one. I am not sure. Have not heard anything about it lately and have seen quite a few open carrying, which doesn’t bother me. However, I prefer to conceal. Having your enhanced carry in MS is also nice.

[quote]jbpick86 wrote:

[quote]OldOgre wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
I’d rather see people open carry than guess if they are conceal carrying. Imo it’s offers a good deterrent factor.

MD law is awful, conceal carry permits are hard to come by (this is supposed to change due to a ruling a few months ago). MDers cannot buy assault rifles any longer and you must be finger printed for hand gun purchases. The new law goes into affect this month I think.

[/quote]

Most of the assault rifle bans actually do not pertain to assault rifles. That term is used incorrectly 99% of the time. If a weapon looks mean it is always called an assault weapon. In reality, if it doesn’t have selective fire, it isn’t an assault weapon.[/quote]

You are in danger of educating those that wish to keep their uneducated opinions and use them for fear mongering. That said I have actually gotten in the bad habit of forgetting my quotes around “assault” rifles when referring to black semi autos when speaking to someone who doesn’t know.[/quote]

I also laugh when people think AR stands for “assault rifle”.

[quote]Bauber wrote:

[quote]jbpick86 wrote:

[quote]OldOgre wrote:
Let me begin by saying that I am not an anti-gun guy. I own several pistols/shotguns/rifles and in no way do I want the government to disarm us. That said, Alabama’s new gun law went into effect yesterday. Basically, among other things, you can now open carry a holstered pistol anywhere you want to, except places covered by Federal law like schools, banks, etc., and other State and local government buildings.

You can also openly cary around a shotgun or a rifle. This applies to public AND private property. The new law also moves us from a “may” issue State to a “shall” issue state on concealed carry permits. The local Sheriff has almost no discretion in issuing pistol permits now. This disaster waiting to happen was pushed through by the same jackass Alabama House member who has fostered other asinine legislation like our immigration law which is now under Federal Court scrutiny.

Just wonder what everybody else thinks about it and what kind of law you have in your state. Al.com has several articles about it if you want to check it out.

[/quote]

Mississippi is in the process of doing the same thing. I know that a lot of our law enforcement is dreading it. Actually we already had some language on the books that essentially made us an open carry state but they felt the need to re-word it and make it clearer they said. A court has put a halt to it right now and the state has ended up spending a fortune for a nothing really. I have seen many legislators say that they regret it. [/quote]

From my understanding it was an injunction by a small circuit court judge basically trying to feel important. The supreme court refused to hear it and sent it back down. Now, the injunction has passed.[/quote]

This very well may be. I haven’t actually kept up with in the past week or two.

I know that it is already afforded us by the 2nd, however through the publicizing of it with this legislation, some of the people that I know personally that are running out to buy holsters are not people that I would want having a gun in a stressful situation. I dunno but I just cant help but feel that people should have to exhibit some level of competency with their weapon and also have a decent understanding of basic defense protocol in order to strap it on their side and walk around the city streets with it.

Now, how you go about assuring that without restraining the 2nd and giving the more liberal among us tools to choke the life out of law abiding citizens ability to carry is beyond me, and realistically I don’t think it can be done.

[quote]Bauber wrote:

[quote]jbpick86 wrote:

[quote]OldOgre wrote:

[quote]usmccds423 wrote:
I’d rather see people open carry than guess if they are conceal carrying. Imo it’s offers a good deterrent factor.

MD law is awful, conceal carry permits are hard to come by (this is supposed to change due to a ruling a few months ago). MDers cannot buy assault rifles any longer and you must be finger printed for hand gun purchases. The new law goes into affect this month I think.

[/quote]

Most of the assault rifle bans actually do not pertain to assault rifles. That term is used incorrectly 99% of the time. If a weapon looks mean it is always called an assault weapon. In reality, if it doesn’t have selective fire, it isn’t an assault weapon.[/quote]

You are in danger of educating those that wish to keep their uneducated opinions and use them for fear mongering. That said I have actually gotten in the bad habit of forgetting my quotes around “assault” rifles when referring to black semi autos when speaking to someone who doesn’t know.[/quote]

I also laugh when people think AR stands for “assault rifle”.[/quote]

It’s a pretty understandable mistake to make for someone who is not knowledgeable with guns. Probably anything they say before or after that in regards to guns is funnier than not knowing an abbreviation for a company that no longer exists.