BIRMINGHAM — Ahead of an event for the Alabama Bankers Association at The Club in Birmingham, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) spoke with the media about the push in Alabama to ban Glock switches after one was reportedly used over the weekend in a shooting that left four dead and 17 others injured.
Tuberville doubled down on his recent remarks about the need to fund the police and improve the rhetoric around law enforcement, but he also noted there was "no reason" to ban Glock switches on the state level when they're already banned on a federal level.
"I saw yesterday where there was a big ceremony in the White House about switches on Glocks — by the way, those are already banned," he explained. "They're against the law. So, that being said, we've got to do more deterrence."
"We've talked about funding more for police," Tuberville continued. "I'm sick and tired of hearing about defund the police. That's exactly the opposite way — we do not need to go that way. We need to give these people more money. We need to get more people that are good policemen on the streets. We've talked about individual police cars funded by the federal government for each policeman where they can drive them home, park them in their neighborhoods. We have to have deterrence."
With local police strained for manpower and resources, Alabama's senior U.S. Senator pushed for federal law enforcement to help deal with the gang violence in Birmingham rather than a statewide ban on Glock switches.
"I think as long as we've got it federally, I mean, a federal crime is just as bad as a state crime, so we should not have switches that make an automatic weapon out of a pistol," Tuberville stated. "My God, why should we have that? But there is no reason for legislation on that. When people have that and we find out they have it, put them in jail."
He continued, "Federal marshals should be involved. FBI should be involved. Anybody to do with gang-related problems should be involved. Most of these are gang-related, drug-related, gun-related. You know, guns and drugs and human trafficking, folks, are coming across that border down there. I've seen it. I've been down there. And I'm getting sick and tired of politicians on both sides denying this is happening, and it's ruining our country."
"There's no doubt that our federal agencies should be involved with this, along with city and county," Tuberville added.
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