The bill would criminalize failing to disclose concealed firearms to law enforcement

Alabama law requires people carrying a concealed firearm to inform law enforcement officers of the firearm upon request. However, there is currently no criminal punishment for violations of the law.

HB-58, pre-filed by Rep. Chris England last week, would impose a criminal penalty on those who fail to properly disclose their possession of a concealed firearm to a police officer when asked.

“Any person who knowingly possesses a pistol or firearm concealed on his or her person or in a vehicle occupied by him or her and who is asked by a law enforcement officer acting in the course of his or her official duties whether he or she is carrying one “A person armed with a concealed pistol or firearm must immediately notify the police officer that the person is in possession of a pistol or firearm,” the law currently states.

England’s amendment would add a subsection to the law making a violation a Class A misdemeanor. Class A misdemeanors are the most serious type of misdemeanor in Alabama law and can result in up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $6,000.

If passed, the criminal penalty would be signed into law on October 1, 2025.

The preliminary filing of the bill comes less than a month after a deadly mass shooting in Birmingham’s Five Points South nightlife district left four people dead and 17 injured in September.

After the shooting, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin called for legislative action to combat gun violence in the state.

“Don’t tell me this can’t be solved. At the same time, don’t tell me it’s up to the police alone to solve this,” Woodfin said after the shooting. “Elected officials – at the local, state and national levels – have a duty to solve this American crisis, this American epidemic of gun violence.”

In his appeal to lawmakers, Woodfin noted that Birmingham saw a sharp decline in gun violence when a federal ban on assault weapons took effect in 1994, but that violent crime experienced a resurgence when the ban expired 10 years later. Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond announced that investigators believe at least one fully automatic weapon was used in the shooting in Five Points South.