Firearm owners in Alabama are reacting negatively to President Barack Obama’s plan to increase gun regulations. APR’s MacKenzie Bates has more.
The President unveiled his plan for a more sweeping definition of gun dealers yesterday that the administration hopes will expand the number of sales that require background checks. Obama insists his proposals are in line with the Second Amendment.
Eddie Fulmer is the president of Bama Carry, a gun rights group in Northport. He says the President’s executive order does not do anything to keep people safe…
“There’s no way to stop a person with evil intent from doing something evil. The only way that we can help stop this, is make sure that every law-abiding citizen has the ability to own and carry a firearm.”
Fulmer adds Obama is bypassing congress with the executive order, and that should be considered government overreach. Obama says some constraints on freedom are necessary to protect innocent people.
Charter fishermen on Alabama’s Gulf Coast got a big win in federal court yesterday.
U.S. District Judge Jane Milazzo of New Orleans upheld a recent rule establishing separate red snapper catch limits for licensed charter captains and recreational fishermen.
The ruling came out of a lawsuit filed by the Coastal Conservation Association, a nonprofit group of recreational anglers. They argued that the new split would mean less catch for private fishermen.
The red snapper fishery in the Gulf Coast is tightly monitored. Just over half of the total allowed catch is allotted to commercial boats. The remaining catch used to be for all recreational fishing, but now around 42% is reserved for licensed charter fishermen.
Shane Cantrell, the executive director of the Charter Fishermen’s Association, says the decision helps the hundreds of thousands of people who love to fish for red snapper but don’t own their own boat.
Environmental groups say the new quotas will help protect the red snapper population from overfishing.
Birmingham ranks among the top ten cities in the country when it comes to getting the most out of its police department.
That’s according toa new study from finance website WalletHub. They calculated the best return on investment for city police departments, as many come under increased scrutiny while also facing decreased funding. Birmingham was ranked the ninth best in the country, with Montgomery and Mobile both making the top 25.
Jill Gonzalez is a spokesperson for WalletHub. She says Birmingham actually has one of the highest crime rates of any of the cities they looked at.
“But, because it has very high unemployment rates, high poverty rates and low median income, it really shows that Birmingham A: has improved in the last couple of years, and B: they’re really making the most of what finances they have.”
The study based police efficiency on area crime rates versus per-capita police spending.