AL Ranger
Member
If you are an Alabama citizen/resident or you are traveling to or through the state and you want to know the laws regarding your firearms, please visit Alabama Open Carry at www.alabamaopencarry.com. You can find out many of the laws concerning open carry, concealed carry, reciprocity, etc. We have many of the court rulings, current laws, AG opinions and more on our Document and Tools page. Everything we have available is offered online but we have it all centrally located for your convenience.
Just for the record: Alabama IS an open carry state. The open carry of firearms was a settled matter in the 1840 Alabama State Supreme Court case of State v Reid. There is no law in Alabama forbidding the open carry of a weapon. No permit is required, no fees to be paid and no background check is necessary to carry openly. However, since it hasn't been done much over the scores of years and some people didn't know their rights, some LEOs assume that open carry is illegal. Since they can't quote any anti-OC law, they use sections 13A-11-7 (Disorderly Conduct) and 13A-11-52 (Carrying on premises not your own) to validate their arrests. The Disorderly Conduct charge can be fought if you know the law. 13A-11-52 is voided by 13A-11-55 (Carry on premises not your own only applies to concealed carry without a license), but you have to know the law.
Just for the record: Alabama IS an open carry state. The open carry of firearms was a settled matter in the 1840 Alabama State Supreme Court case of State v Reid. There is no law in Alabama forbidding the open carry of a weapon. No permit is required, no fees to be paid and no background check is necessary to carry openly. However, since it hasn't been done much over the scores of years and some people didn't know their rights, some LEOs assume that open carry is illegal. Since they can't quote any anti-OC law, they use sections 13A-11-7 (Disorderly Conduct) and 13A-11-52 (Carrying on premises not your own) to validate their arrests. The Disorderly Conduct charge can be fought if you know the law. 13A-11-52 is voided by 13A-11-55 (Carry on premises not your own only applies to concealed carry without a license), but you have to know the law.
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