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Welcome everyone to Alabama Open Carry! The site is brand new and I have put in more hours than I care to count trying to get it ready. I am the only person currently working on this site which includes all the layout, content, graphics, and publishing. In addition to a family and full time job. So if you come across a broken link, typo, or bug please don't flame me, just be sure and let me know about it and I'll try an get it resolved as quickly as possible.
It is my hope that you'll find the information on this site helpful in making your decision if Open Carry is right for you. Whether you personally open carry or not, it is important that we maintain this right, as a right unexercised is a right lost! I am always open for suggestions and feedback on improving the site. Also let me know about any open carry news and events, especially in Alabama. I am currently looking into a
couple different content management
programs that will allow me to manage and add new news stories in an
efficient less cumbersome manner.
Tell your friends about the site, join our mailing list, and keep checking back as I'll be adding new content all the time including news, events, videos, pics, and interviews with open carriers and
officials.
Thanks, enjoy the site and Carry on! -Jason
"*NOTE - This is a copy of the original message posted by Bamafirefighter22 on the opencarry.org Alabama forums:
Well today was a really bad day for open carry and myself.
I was pulled over buy a HCSO Sgt, which I know, bc I have been having problems getting a tag for my car. All was fine until a local cop, whom I have known for even longer, pulled up and after a few minutes asked me if I would step out of the car. I
upholstered my Glock, he didn't even see me do it, and placed it in my seat before I went to talk to them.
I still had my holster on my side and the local cop jumped my s#$t and asked me why I was "carrying my gun on my hip like I was Wyatt Earp?" I told him in a calm voice "the Alabama constitution afforded me the right to do so." He became extremely irritated and upset and proceeded to tell me that "I was wrong" and" that really pissed him off how I had just smarted off to him!"
I said, "I'm sorry but I didn't mean to sound like I was smarting off to you just responding to your question."
Well that wasn't enough, after a short dialect about how I had checked every resource I could find on the issue and they all came back to verify what I was doing was legal, he told me that "if I ever smarted off to him again like that, that he would take off his badge a gun and put it in his truck and whoop my ass right here and put my face in the asphalt!!!” That "I had no right to be open carrying and that if he saw me in town like that he would draw down on me bc he was making sure he was going home!!" "you don’t see me or the Sgt with our gun on our hips when we are off duty do you.... DO YOU!?!?" "You are putting yourself in a bad situation by doing so"
He actually told me twice that he would "kick my a#s" and kept degrading me and telling me that in all the years he has known me he has given me too many warnings and he was done with it!!"
He also told me that I shouldn't be open carrying bc "I'm just a firefighter and not a cop and that if somebody put a gun in my face right now I would freeze and not know what to do!"
Also something to the affect of "If I didn't know you I would begin to put your face on the asphalt because your not gona jump out of no car with that right there."
I only had my holster and no gun at all.
I am going to leave it at that and not add what I was thinking as replies or what I now think of him bc I'm sure that everyone will probably feel the same. Oh yeah and rule 6... no LEO bashing....... WHATEVER!!!!! I am sick of following the rules of the "system" and then getting harassed while thugs ride around our neighborhood dealing drugs and speeding down the streets our kids live on while they try to in-force there opinion's and not the LAW!
Please remember I am a firefighter with no arrest records and have always been friends with the cops and never, unlike he quotes in the linked audio, gotten into any trouble with them. He must have been thinking of my younger brother.
Audio to the conversation about half way through when my girlfriend started to record:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd6vic68-uY
Thanks for your support,
James
P.S. If I have mis-quoted or gone off the deep end with any of my grammar I am just a little upset right now..
Open carry is more than open carry
Brian G. Jeffs, 1st President, MOC, Inc.
It’s true that open carry has many advantages: a faster draw, a larger
caliber handgun and greater round capacity; sure it’s been show to deter
crime, and it is immensely more comfortable to carry in warm weather, but it
is much more than that.
Open carry brings gun ownership out of the closet. It shows your friends
and neighbors, your state and your country that you are not afraid of taking
on the responsibility of protecting yourself and the ones you love from
evil. Open carry is a visible expression of our natural right to self
preservation. Open carry makes a statement that we are not afraid to stand
up to the “politically correct” ideology that has created a nanny state,
where the government is there to help us if we just do as they say, and a
pox on anyone that disagrees.
Open carry can lead us out of this stupor and deliver us once again to
the days when a man could stand tall and be proud of his community, his
state, and his country.
When you open carry you are saying to the world, I’m my own man, I’m able
and willing to defend myself, my family, and if need be my community, my
state, and my country. It also states that I’m willing to stand up and speak
truth to authority. It’s shameful that we as law abiding citizens must stand
up to authority, the very authority that we have empowered, when questioned
about our lawful right to openly carry a firearm. But stand up we must. The
open carry of a firearm speaks volumes and it’s says much more than just
open carry.
Special thanks to Michigan Open Carry and Brian Jeffs for allowing me to post this article!
http://www.michiganopencarry.org/
Montgomery PD Vows To Train OC Policies
What started off as a detainment and aggravation for an Alabama Open Carry member has ended
with the Montgomery Police Department and the city attorney vowing to put policies in place to
train officers on responding to Open Carriers.
On April 20th AOC member Eye95 was shopping at Eastdale Mall while open
carrying. He was approached
by Mall security and a Montgomery Police Officer, who proceeded to detain him for almost 2 hours
while he "checked him out". For the full story in his own words, visit:
http://www.alabamaopencarry.com/forum/index.php?topic=35.0
After the incident, Eye95 started to request all the documents and radio traffic related to his detainment. Shortly after requesting this info he was contacted by
the Lieutenant Colonel / Deputy Chief of Investigations. Here is a section of his response:
I was contacted by our legal department yesterday evening and I would like to meet with you today. I think you will be pleased to hear their findings in regards to the “Open Carry” issue. I would like to continue our conversation to let you know what we are doing. I also want to thank you for bringing the open carry issue to our attention so that we can properly inform our personnel on how to handle these situations when our officers encounter them. Like I told you before, I am a strong supporter of our 2nd amendment and I apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced at the mall but we have taken an oath to protect and serve and must respond to variety of situations that require our attention.
In addition to the pleasant response from Lieutenant Colonel, he received a call today from the City Attorney: I just got a call from the city attorney who is working the issue. She said that a policy has been formulated and discussed with the deputy chief.
She mentioned that officers could check ID and seize an OCed firearm during an "investigatory stop." I specifically asked if someone OCing and not doing anything illegal could be stopped for investigation. She said no, that that officer would have to be able to articulate reasonable suspicion to make such a stop. I asked if that meant that the officer could not detain an OCer, seize his firearm, run the numbers, check ID, and run the person's name without RAS. She said that it did mean that. She said that the officer is still free to approach and talk to the citizen. I think that's wonderful. We all ought to be able to have conversations with each other.
This is exactly the kind of cooperation and respect of citizens rights that Open Carry needs! Other Departments around our state should take note of how MPD took a situation, realized it wasn't handled the best way, researched the law, and took positive steps in fixing it, while working with the person involved. Outstanding!
Special thanks to Eye95 for his bravery and dedication! Again, the whole event in all the details is here:
http://www.alabamaopencarry.com/forum/index.php?topic=35.0
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