(RoyalPatriot.com )- Last year, four more states passed new laws that removed permitting requirements for carrying firearms while in public, meaning that now half of the states in the country don’t require residents to do so.
Those states were Ohio, Georgia, Indiana and Alabama.
The permitless carry law went into effect on Monday in Alabama, which made it the 25th state to have those laws in place.
After signing his state’s bill officially into law, Republican Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama said:
“Unlike states who are doing everything in their power to make it harder for law-abiding citizens, Alabama is reaffirming our commitment to defending our Second Amendment rights. I have always stood up for the rights of law-abiding gun owners, and I am proud to do that again today.”
In just the last two years alone, 10 additional states made it legal for residents to carry a firearm in public without first obtaining a permit to do so.
The other six states are Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Iowa, Montana and Utah.
In April of last year, Georgia Republican Governor signed his state’s new bill into law, which repealed a law that was on the books that used to require residents to first get a license to carry a concealed weapon in public, a process which included getting their fingerprints taken and undergoing a background check.
In a statement he issued about the law, Kemp said:
“SB 319 makes sure that law abiding Georgians — including our daughters and your family, too — can protect themselves without having to ask permission from state government.”
When that law was passed in Georgia, the executive director at the Institute for Legislative Action at the NRA, Jason Ouimet, said that “essential legislation” was one of the top priorities for his organization “for many years.”
Eric Holcomb, the Republican governor of Indiana, signed a law in his state back in March of 2022 that removed the previous requirement for gun owners to obtain a permit so they could carry a handgun legally in public, to conceal one or to even transport one within his state.
While Indiana’s new law removes the requirement for a permit, there are some instances in which people will be automatically blocked from carrying a firearm, including those who have been convicted of domestic abuse charges and felony crimes.
When he signed the bill, Holcomb said:
“HEA 1296, which I’ve signed today, entrusts Hoosiers who can lawfully carry a handgun to responsibly do so within our state. It’s important to note that if a person is prohibited, under federal or state laws, from possessing a firearm before this law goes into effect, that person will still be prohibited.”
For quite some time, the only state in the U.S. that allowed residents to carry a concealed firearm was Vermont. That change in 2011, when Wyoming reduced the restrictions on doing so in their state.
In just the last 12 years, another 23 states have done the same.
