Sheriffs offer ‘No Open Carry’ signs to businesses

August 13, 2013
open carry

The sign some Alabama counties are distributing to business owners. From the Montgomery Advertiser.

Sheriffs in Alabama are responding to that state’s open carry gun law—with signs.

In the Montgomery tri-county area, sheriff’s offices are offering “No Open Carry” signs to local businesses for free, the Montgomery Advertiser reports. Alabama is an “open carry” state, meaning that people can carry a handgun in a holster, in plain sight without having a concealed weapons permit.

Autauga County Sheriff Herbie Johnson, Prattville Police Chief Mark Thompson and District Attorney Randall Houston are having 1,500 signs printed to distribute to businesses that would rather not welcome gun-toting customers. The signs will cost $750 and the three departments are splitting the expense.

While the law dictates that people have the right to carry guns openly, businesses have the right to allow or deny open carry on their property.

Local business owners can pick up the signs at the sheriff’s and DA’s offices in the courthouse or at police headquarters in City Hall. For those who can’t leave their businesses though, signs are just a phone call away—business owners can call the sheriff’s office or police headquarters to request a sign and an officer will deliver it to them. This gives the officers the opportunity to talk to the business owners about the scope of the gun law, something much of the public is still confused about.

The hope is that the signs will clear up some of that confusion.

open carry

Alabama’s open carry law makes it legal to openly carry a gun in a holster. From Adam Bailey.

“People need to educate themselves where they can carry,” District Attorney Randall Houston said. “We’ve received several reports of people becoming aggressive and belligerent if a business owner says they don’t want open carry on their property.”

So far, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s office has received “numerous” calls from people requesting signs and the sheriffs have agreed to provide signs to any business in Autauga, Elmore and Montgomery Counties.

For business owners outside of these counties, and those in other states with new open carry and concealed carry laws, more signs to alert patrons of business gun policies are available on MySecuritySign.

 

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Category: Guns, Trespassing

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