Gambling, guns, porn and police: Down in Alabama

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Gambling update

The Alabama Senate failed to pass a lottery/casinos bill Tuesday night, but there’s indication it might not be fully dead, reports AL.com’s Mike Cason.

We all know to never bet on gambling laws in the Alabama Legislature. But earlier this legislative session the House and Senate passed two different legislative packages. On Tuesday, a conference committee with members of both bodies approved a compromise package, and the House of Representatives passed it.

From there it went to the Senate, which voted one on of the two bills in the package but came up one short of the three-fifths required on a constitutional amendment.

Then, some confusion.

Senate Secretary Pat Harris said the vote, which was 20-15, needed only to be a majority, not three-fifths, because that vote was to adopt the conference committee’s report on the bill. But the Senate will need to re-vote on it as a constitutional amendment, and that’ll require three-fifths.

The Senate moved to carry over the bill, so if Harris’s explanation holds, that bill and the other bill in the package might still get their shot during this session.

The bills propose a state lottery and 10 casinos. If they both pass — and I’m not suggesting you bet your Chevy that they will — the proposed amendment would go on a ballot to be approved or rejected by the state’s voters.

Glock switches

The Alabama House of Representatives passed a bill that would ban so-called Glock switches, reports AL.com’s Mike Cason.

The bill was from Rep. Phillip Ensler, a Montgomery Democrat, and it passed 60-38 with support being voiced by sheriffs, state troopers and prosecutors. Some Republicans opposed the bill over Second Amendment concerns.

Glock switches are devices that convert handguns from semi-automatic to fully automatic. Remember, a semi-automatic firearm requires a trigger pull for each round to be fired. A fully automatic weapon is what’s commonly called a machine gun and can shoot a spray of rounds.

Glock switches are illegal on the federal level. The bill that would do the same on the state level is now headed to the Alabama Senate.

Deepfakes and child porn

For the kids out there, as well as some adults, let me share a personal Internet rule: Don’t do anything on the Web you wouldn’t do on the 50-yard line of Bryant-Denny Stadium with the sheriff, your parents, God, your future spouse and your boss watching.

Take that or leave it.

But the Internet may have just gotten riskier for bad behavior.

AL.com’s Howard Koplowitz reports that Gov. Kay Ivey has signed the bill than bans deepfake artificial-intelligence images under Alabama’s child-pornography law.

If you don’t know what that means, here’s the alleged incident that inspired this law: Two middle school boys were accused of creating images by photoshopping the faces of real girls — their classmates — onto pornographic images. That was reported by the Demopolis Times.

The Alabama Child Protection Act of 2024 was authored by April Weaver, a Brierfield Republican, and Matt Woods, a Jasper Republican.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall: “Now the real work begins. My Office stands ready to help law enforcement and prosecutors around our state prepare to utilize this important new weapon in the fight against child exploitation.”

Resignations, firings and suspensions

Police chief drama continues across Alabama.

Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert resigned a couple weeks ago after being placed on leave. No reason was released at the time.

Then on Tuesday, AL.com’s John Sharp reported that the Mobile City Council unanimously voted to fire Police Chief Paul Prine. He has been on paid administrative leave since April 9, and Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said Prine has lashed out at the administration and “tarnished the reputation of several career employees who have done nothing wrong.” There is speculation Prine may run for mayor.

And in Selma, Mayor James Perkins Jr. has put Police Chief Kenta Fulford on administrative leave for the second time since January 2023, reports AL.com’s Carol Robinson. A reason wasn’t given for this suspension, but the earlier one reportedly was for being out of town during tornado recovery.

Quoting

“You need to fix this.”

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, according to Alabama Commerce Secretary Ellen McNair, to the state’s automakers regarding the issues that are contributing to union activity in the state’s auto plants.

More Alabama News

Born on This Date

In 1928, “The Southern Gentleman” Sonny James of Hackleburg. His big hit was 1957′s “Young Love.”

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