Dear editor,

I would like to talk to the good people of Franklin County about a bill, HB39, being presented to the legislative process that is sponsored by Rep. Proncey Robertson, R-Mount Hope. It does have a sister bill, SB47, coming out of the Alabama Senate, sponsored by Randy Price, R-Opelika.

This bill would create a database of pistol permit holders in the state – which maybe sounds OK to some of you at first glance.

My first thought is that whenever the government collects information on citizens, they are creating a problem. It will always be abused. We all know this.

Our sheriff’s office has the ability to determine if a person has a valid permit or not, as it is now. Why add more bureaucracy to the situation?

If passed, this database will include only who has a permit and who is prohibited. Why include who has one? Why not include only prohibited individuals?

The bad guys are the problem, not the good guys. Law-abiding citizens are just that: law-abiding. Leave us alone!

Law-abiding gun owners all across our great nation are under attack. This is part of that attack.

This bill is basically establishing a “gun registry.” Historically, registration leads to confiscation.

I guarantee if this bill passes, they will soon want the serial numbers of all the guns a person owns – and more and then more.

Doesn’t every program government implements grow larger than originally described? So will this one.

Oh, and guess who will administer this database? Not the state and not ALEA; it will be a third party. A third party sure doesn’t need individual, private information on us, unless we choose to allow them to have it.

This bill also prescribes having our driver’s licenses marked as either having a valid pistol permit or being a prohibited person.

Again, why mark the law-abiding people? If they must mark the DL, mark the bad guys and leave us alone! We are not the problem!

Being designated as a pistol permit holder on your driver’s license will cause undue scrutiny when stopped for minor traffic violations, which happens to almost everyone.

Maybe not locally, as much, but how about when you get stopped out of state? Does that pique your interest?

Pistol permits do not keep anyone safe. The pistol permit system is only a “cash cow” for county governments whereby the folks that purchase permits are in fact paying an extra tax.

It is an unfair tax in that every county citizen doesn’t pay.

Paying a tax to exercise a “natural right” guaranteed by both our U.S. Constitution and our state constitution is ludicrous and tyrannical in nature. The state has taken our right and has been selling it back to us!

Please contact your Alabama senator and your representative and tell them you are against this bill. www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.

While you are at it, tell them to vote for SB1. SB1 will rescind the requirement to purchase a pistol permit to carry a pistol concealed on or about your person or in a vehicle.

SB1 will not allow anyone to carry a pistol that is prohibited now; they will remain prohibited.

The Alabama Sheriff’s Association always says the permit system is a valuable tool for officers’ safety.

All law enforcement officers are trained on how to approach situations such as traffic stops – to approach as if danger lies ahead in the vehicle they have stopped. A permit does not enhance their safety. Whether or not the occupant has a piece of paper will not change that. Proper procedure and protocol, that they will follow anyway, is designed to keep them safe.

Gary Blackburn