Alabama permits open carry, and doing so is not reasonable suspicion. United States v. Mitchell, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 156980 (M.D. Ala. Aug. 13, 2025):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
In conclusion, and from a totality-of-the-circumstances perspective, the court finds that officers similarly situated to Officers Gambill and Lowe would have had only enough evidence to reasonably suspect that Mitchell was carrying a concealed firearm in a crowded public area. While that activity is inherently dangerous, it is something that people in Alabama are generally allowed to do. And so, Gambill was constitutionally permitted to investigate Mitchell, follow him, and ask him questions to obtain more evidence. Gambill was not, however, constitutionally permitted to ‘seize’ Mitchell, and then perform a frisk. Because Gambill seized Mitchell anyway, Mitchell’s right to be free from unreasonable seizures was violated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result, the court will construe the government to be arguing for an exception permitting the use evidence obtained from an unconstitutional seizure if the seizure was done to protect public safety. However, to the extent that the government seeks a ‘public safety’ exception, Terry is that exception. See 392 U.S. at 27-31. Terry permits the government to use evidence seized based on reasonable suspicion rather than pursuant to a warrant supported by probable cause precisely because of public safety concerns. See id. An exception any broader would swallow the rule, as police could always persuasively argue that public safety justifies an unconstitutional search or seizure. Cf. J.L., 529 U.S. at 272-73.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
IV. CONCLUSION<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court truly appreciates the police officers’ public-safety concerns that an individual with a concealed gun was present in a crowded public area. It may even be reasonable to suspect that someone in their early 20s, as was Mitchell here, with a concealed firearm in a crowded public area may make a reckless decision, because people around that age, whose brains have not yet fully developed, often act recklessly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Alabama has permitted people to carry concealed firearms without a permit, thus subjecting Alabamians to the inherent dangers associated with that permission. Those dangers include that people likely to make reckless decisions are permitted to have guns in crowded public areas. Neither the police, nor this court, may rewrite Alabama law no matter the dangers it permits. It is for the people of Alabama to rewrite the law should they no longer wish to live with its consequences. Because Officer Gambill did not reasonably suspect that Mitchell’s possession of a concealed gun posed a danger greater than that which Alabama law permits, his seizure violated the Fourth Amendment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Alabama permits open carry, and doing so is not reasonable suspicion. United States v. Mitchell, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 156980 (M.D. Ala. Aug. 13, 2025):<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reasonable-suspicion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61678,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61677\/revisions\/61678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}