The Democratic Advocate

By a decision of the Alabama Supreme Court this week the new law with reference to the carrying of firearms in that state becomes permanently effective. This new law is a singular result of legislative finesse and diplomacy. To have boldly and broadly attempted to banish the revolver and pistol from the fire-eating Alabamian would have provoked an opposition strong enough to defeat the effort. Yet it was felt that something must be done to check the dangerous and wide-spread habit in that state of carrying firearms. Alabama is largely a "black" state, there being a large negro population. The negro carried a pistol usually through sheer ignorant bravado, and the white man felt that this laid upon him the necessity of going around with a small arsenal on his person.

Finally the legislature framed and passed a law prohibiting the carrying of any pistol or gun less than 24 inches long. This did not prohibit the carrying of firearms, but it made it practically impossible for a man to get about with one concealed on his person. Imagine a young representative of Southern blue blood dancing at a fashionable ball with the barrel of a 24-inch gun protruding from his coat tail? To further clinch the new inhibition the law forbids the manufacture of supplies, cartridges, etc., for guns of a less measurement than 24 inches.