Alabama Sheriff’s offices to receive grants to make up for lost pistol permit funds

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Gov. Kay Ivey on Monday announced the start of the Sheriffs’ grants for all of Alabama’s 67 counties.

The sheriff’s departments in each of the state’s 67 counties will be receiving funds quarterly beginning in the first quarter of 2023. The amount of funds each county receives will be based on the money that those departments collected from pistol permit fees in 2022.

“A couple of core tenants of the Ivey Administration is that we back the blue in the strongest way possible and that we support upholding our citizens’ Second Amendment rights,” Gov. Ivey said. “As we have amended Alabama law to help our gun owners, we also worked to ensure our sheriffs received their critical funds, and I am proud that these grants will do that,” said Governor Ivey. “The Sheriffs’ Grants will provide them with funding for training, equipment, and other needs not provided by county commissions in their annual appropriations. We are proud to support the vital work our sheriffs’ departments do on a daily basis.”

Ivey wrote on Twitter, “I just announced the start of the Sheriffs’ Grants for all 67 counties to ensure they receive these critical funds. Just as we support upholding Alabamians’ Second Amendment rights, we will always back the blue and are proud to do so.”

To be eligible for grants under the Local Government Pistol Permit Revenue Loss Fund, Sheriffs need to be able to show a loss of pistol permit funds in 2023 from comparable 2022 figures. This decrease in funding is due to the passage of permitless carry by the legislature last year. All adult Alabamians, who have not lost their gun rights, no longer have to purchase a concealed carry permit (also called a pistol permit) to carry their handguns with them concealed on their person, in a purse or briefcase, or their vehicles. 

The Alabama Sheriffs Association had repeatedly warned state legislators that if permitless carry passed, it would mean a disastrous loss of revenue for Alabama’s sheriffs. Permitless carry was passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ivey anyway; however, to address the sheriffs’ stated concerns over lost revenue, legislators created the Government Pistol Permit Revenue Loss Fund as part of the legislation.

The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) is making disbursements to the sheriff’s offices based on reports collected by other state agencies.

“ADECA intends to carry out our duties in this matter to ensure that Alabama’s sheriffs’ offices are compensated for their losses based on those shortages provided in the data,” said ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell.

ADECA administers an array of programs supporting law enforcement and traffic safety, economic development, energy conservation, water resource management, and recreation development. The Local Government Pistol Permit Revenue Loss Fund is funded with an appropriation from the state general fund (SGF).

Proponents of permitless carry claim that other states who have passed permitless carry have not experienced large declines in concealed carry permit sales and that over time, more citizens will carry firearms and thus will want the reciprocity benefits that having a permit provides to gun owners.

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