Bill banning trigger activators awaiting Alabama Senate vote

Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, speaks against a bill to ban transgender athletes from college sports on April 18, 2023. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

A bill that bans trigger activators cleared an Alabama Senate committee Tuesday as the clock runs down on the 2024 legislative session.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved HB 36 Tuesday, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, by a vote of 6-4 with two abstentions in a roll call vote. The bill, which passed the House of Representatives last week , moves to the Senate floor.

The bill prohibits people from having firearms with a part, or combination of parts, that are designed or intended to convert the gun into a machine gun.

A violation is a class C felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Lawmakers on the committee considered and passed the proposal quickly with Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, the committee chair, entertaining a motion for the bill’s passage without Ensler even introducing the legislation.

“We have already passed virtually the same bill. I think there was a House change, but it was Sen. (Bobby) Singleton’s (D-Greensboro)  bill,” Barfoot said.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Singleton’s bill on April 24, but it has not come to a vote in the Senate.

There are two legislative days left in the 2024 regular session.

Correction: A previous version of the story stated that community service is a penalty for a first time offense. That provision was removed from the bill.

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