The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-14
TWENTY-FOUR-INcH PISTOL
 ACT HELD CONSTITUTIONAL
Conviction of an Etowah County Officer Is Affirmed.
Aet of Last LeEfsiasure Is Reg ulatioa And Not Prohibitios
 Of The Risht To
 aBear Arns..
rha new nistol law is good.

The new plBl0I lAWs iS 6Vou.
 It regulates but does not pro nibit"
 1t is constitutional through and through.
 The oficers of the law must obey 1t as other citizens.
 It does not destroy the constitu- tional guarantee to bear arms"
 Such ara some of the conclusions iu an opinion of Justice Thomas O. Mcclellan, speaking yesterday for the SupFeme Court of Alabama. in the prominent test case brought up from; the City Court of Gadsden. The style of the case Is Lon Tyler vs State of AsabsTna-
 some of the utterancai of the court were reiterations of doctrines already pronounced by that tribunal Esps- ciaiiy is this true with reference fc the right or want of right of officere to carry weapons. It had been pre- viousiy decided that officers had no more right to carry concealed pistols than the ordinary citizen.
 But in the opinion of Justice Me- Cielian. which is spread over more than seven typewrftten pages. 1t is clearly stated that as there is no nx- oeption in the act approved November 2s. 1907, in favor of officers who exc cute the law they are amenabls to all It's provisions. I
 Also the opinion is plain as to the right of the Legislature to define the "eharacter" of the pistol to be carried oR ones premises as we'll as to de- scribe the manner In which 1t shah be carried. And in doing so the law. makers are only regulating and not prohibiting" the right to bear arms Therefore, such enactments as that started and fathered by Representa- tive Sam Will John declaring that no pistol of less barrel length than twen. ty-feur inches shall be carried of oiae's premises do not violate the guar antse contained in Section 3e of tho Alabama Constitution and the Unitee Btates Constitution.
 If Ten Feet LOng.
 The illustration is used by Justice Mcclellan that a law making the minimum length of pistols ten feet or more would be unconstitutional be- cause that would be prohibitive and not regulntive. The opinion is based somewhat on the broad theory that the legislators acted in this instance for the safety of the people and ad- vancement Of public morals" 5ss
 Lon Tyler was an ofEicer of the law when he was arrested for wtufating the pistol law He was arrested in MtowRh county and convicted, being nned $2S and costs. He made several pleas, among which was that the act was void on the grounds stated, that he was an officer of the law and aot- 1 ing in defense of the State. that the 1 prosecution did not prove positively whose premises he was on at the tima of the offense though witnesses testi- l lied that he was not on his own.
 On each of these pleas the defendant l lost before ths Gadsden City and su- preEne Courts. II
 The opinion at the outset gave a | brief history of the origin of the right to bear arms. When Kinr James II. of England, fled from the | realm, Parliament, remembering sey- | eral of the tyrannIcal acts of the | former sovereign, qualified the acces- | sion of William and Mary to inc throne by reserving the right to hear arms to the Pr0testants as we'll aa fo | the Papists- The former were ax- pressiy forbidden to exercise the risht | by King James. The Bin of Rirbte gave the right to all subjects ana the American Constitution as well as all State Constitutions have inherited | it,
 Speaking of the law of Novemh., %. 1907. Justice Mcclellan says in | part: !"
 "In this enactment the Legislature has determined, presumably upon inc Idea Of conservation of the public in- tefest and the welfare. that to have in | possession on one's premises, a pistol | eh IeSs length Of barrel than twenty | 1our inches IS inimical to such interest | and welfare and prohibit ft. To inse tity this court in pronouncing tbt.