From The Trussville Tribune staff reports
TRUSSVILLE –Following contact from Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, signs banning guns have been removed from public buildings in Clay, Center Point, and Irondale, as well as several other Alabama municipalities, according to a statement from the AG’s office.
A sign at Clay City Hall prohibits guns, knives or weapons on premises has been removed. Photo by Scott Buttram
While Trussville was not mentioned in the statement, a sign on display banning guns at city hall remains due to exceptions for municipal courts and police stations which are housed in the same building. However, signs banning guns have been removed from all other Trussville municipal buildings and parks.
As of last week, a sign banning guns from Pinson’s Bicentennial Park remained on display and was not mentioned in Monday’s statement. Railroad Park in Birmingham, however, was listed among the public places ordered to remove the no-gun signs by the AG.
The attorney general had issued a ruling in January stating that any signs prohibiting guns inside public buildings or in public parks were not in compliance with the Alabama gun law.
In the case of Irondale, a no-gun sign was removed from the public library, but allowed to remain at city hall.
The exception was granted under Ala. Code § 13A-11-61.2(b) which allows the signs banning guns for “a person, including a person with a permit issued under Section 13A-11-75(a)(1) or recognized under Section 13A-11-85, may not, without the express permission of a person or entity with authority over the premises, knowingly possess or carry a firearm inside any building or facility to which access of unauthorized persons and prohibited articles is limited during normal hours of operation by the continuous posting of guards and the use of other security features, including, but not limited to, magnetometers, key cards, biometric screening devices, or turnstiles or other physical barriers.”
A sign at Trussville City Hall prohibits firearms on premises has been removed. Photo by Scott Buttram
According to the statement released on Monday, petitioners had alleged that the cities of Clay and Center Point failed to comply with Alabama law because both prohibited firearms at the Clay and Center Point city hall buildings . After the Attorney General communicated with both cities, the signs prohibiting firearms were removed. Because the signs are removed, the Attorney General has determined that no further action is required.
Following the ruling in January, Clay City Manager Ronnie Dixon said the city would take the sign off the front door.
“We’ve just been waiting on (Strange) to put it out,” Dixon said. “I’ve been expecting it, but I haven’t seen it. If that’s the ruling, they’ll come down. It’s not anything that we’ve enforced anyway.”
Other metro area public buildings listed as removing signs following contact from Strange’s office include Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, Mountain Brook city parks, Homewood city parks, unsecured areas of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport, Veastvia Hills city parks, and Hoover city parks. Hoover was granted an exception for buildings under continuous security monitoring by a guard and weapon detection equipment.
23 Comments
Doris Franklin
Pack!
Debra Ann Gray-Elliott
I guess any armed fool can walk into City Hall with a gun?
Debra Ann Gray-Elliott
I guess any armed fool can walk into City Hall with a gun?
JaronandAli Cahoon
Cole-Lisa Bell
JaronandAli Cahoon
Cole-Lisa Bell
Lori Mayes
Kody Allen
Cole-Lisa Bell
Cole-Lisa Bell
Kody Allen
Fool??? It must be terrible to have that in your heart and have to live like that every day…. and there was anything to stop them anyway it’s ridiculous people acting like now there is going to be a guy waving a gun around in city hall every time you walk in
Kody Allen
Fool??? It must be terrible to have that in your heart and have to live like that every day…. and there was anything to stop them anyway it’s ridiculous people acting like now there is going to be a guy waving a gun around in city hall every time you walk in
Nathan Russell
… And a sign is going to stop “any armed fool” from doing so? Lol. I’ll have what she’s having
Nathan Russell
… And a sign is going to stop “any armed fool” from doing so? Lol. I’ll have what she’s having
Nathan Russell
If you want to keep guns out, put metal detectors and X Ray machines at all of the doors. What’s a sign going to do? Seriously
Nathan Russell
If you want to keep guns out, put metal detectors and X Ray machines at all of the doors. What’s a sign going to do? Seriously
Sabrina Millwee Meeks
I just will not go to the Pinson Park.
Patrick Muth
An armed fool would have walked in regardless, now law abiding citizens can protect themselves from liberal gun free zones where all the mass shootings happen because they know it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. That gay nightclub in Orlando had a sign so why did that man go in there with a gun and kill those people?
Patrick Muth
An armed fool would have walked in regardless, now law abiding citizens can protect themselves from liberal gun free zones where all the mass shootings happen because they know it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. That gay nightclub in Orlando had a sign so why did that man go in there with a gun and kill those people?
Philip Sharpe
He couldn’t read apparently, duh!!!
Philip Sharpe
If the criminal is the only one with a gun, he gets to decide whether I live or die. Me have a gun gives me a say in the matter.
Kayla Nall Wilbourn
Scott Wilbourn
Paul Haynes
Me open carrying is a sign for criminals to not mess with me so would you rather have them rob you or avoid you think about it.
Georgie Rowan Allen
Pinson needs to RETHINK for sure!
Liz J Fike
No, just bc there is no sign, firearms or weapons are NOT allowed on/in any government building, schools, & hospitals!!!
The law didn’t change, just some signs taken down!