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Three bills seeking to prohibit devices used to convert semi-automatic firearms into automatic weapons have been pre-filed for the Alabama House of Representatives’ 2025 legislative session.
Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, has sponsored two bills pre-filed for the 2025 legislative session, aiming to prohibit owning a bump stock in Birmingham and statewide.
House Bill 51, sponsored by Givan, would prohibit and provide penalties for the possession of a bump stock within a Class 1 municipality, of which Birmingham is the only in the state.
HB51 defines bump stock as any part added to a firearm which harnesses recoil in order to “generate a reciprocating action that causes the repeated activation of the firearm’s trigger.”
The bill would make possession of a bump stock in a Class 1 municipality a Class C Felony.
House Bill 12, sponsored by Givan, would prohibit and provide penalties for the possession of a bump stock, short-barreled rifle or short-barreled shotgun anywhere in the state.
The bill defines short-barreled rifles and shotguns as any rifle or shotgun with an overall length of less than 26 inches or one or more barrel that is less than 16 inches in length.
HB12 would make possession of a bump stock or short-barreled shotgun or rifle a Class C Felony.
Both bills clarify that they don’t prohibit a “peace officer who possesses, obtains, receives, sells, or uses” one of the firearms from doing so “in the course of or in connection to” their official duties.
House Bill 26 is a prefilled bill seeking to restrict access to devices which allow pistols to fire automatically.
HB26 is sponsored by Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, Allen Treadaway, R-Morris, Russell Bedsole, R-Alabaster, Travis Hendrix, D-Birmingham and Rex Reynolds, R-Huntsville.
The bill would prohibit possessing a part or a combination of parts designed to convert the pistol into a machine gun upon attachment.
The bill defines machine gun as any weapon with the capability to shoot “automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.”
HB26 would make possession of such a device a Class C felony.
The bill makes exceptions for possession of such devices by state or local law enforcement agents acting in an official capacity.
It also makes exceptions for those who possess a firearm, part or parts registered with National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record ran by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives.
Any part or combination of parts designed to increase a pistol’s rate of fire that does not allow the weapon to fire more than two shots by a single function of the trigger is also not affected by HB26.
The Birmingham Police Department suspects “switches” used to convert pistols into automatic weapons were used in the Sept. 21 mass shooting in Birmingham’s Five Points South neighborhood.
Following the shooting, Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said, “Glock switches are the number one public safety issue in our city and state.’’
“Converting a semi-automatic weapon into a fully automatic weapon that discharges all bullets within seconds doesn’t belong on our domestic streets,” Woodfin continued.
Givan similarly called for restrictions on bump stocks following the shooting, saying, ” At least 100 shots were fired in Five Points.”
“That’s not a crime scene, that’s a war zone. A bump stock has one purpose and one purpose only; to kill or wound as many people as possible,” she said.
If passed the bills would go into effect Oct. 1, 2025.
