During his weekly appearance on Huntsville radio WVNN's "The Dale Jackson Show," State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) said while he did not think there would be much opposition to a state ban on so-called Glock switches, it was distracting from a gang problem in the city of Birmingham.
One week ago, a shooting in the Five Points South neighborhood in Birmingham killed four and reportedly wounded at least 17 others. The next day, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin argued the Alabama Legislature deserved a share of the blame.
Givhan called Woodfin's effort to draw attention to a Glock switch ban and permitless carry "smoke."
"I think the whole thing is a red herring," he said. "It's just something to talk about. And one of the things with a permitless carry, that's another thing they love to kick is, oh gosh, and what they love to do is they pull somebody over and, you know, for whatever reason, and then look out there and they see a gun in the inside of their vehicle, and they could just arrest them if they didn't have a permit for it."
"But it's my understanding, and I have not personally researched the law, but I'm pretty confident that Mississippi is a flat-out constitutional carry state," Givhan continued. "There's no prohibition there, and my understanding is that in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee — so all the states surrounding us, that you can have the gun in your vehicle without having a permit. Why aren't we seeing these issues everywhere else?"
"I mean, again, it's just smoke that they're trying to cast blame on the legislature for, you know, what's a, I think a gang problem, a crime problem, organized crime problem in a few of our communities," he added.
Jeff Poor is the editor in chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
