FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
State Senator Will Barfoot - Jeff Poor Show - Friday 9-27-24
[MUSIC PLAYING] And I'll welcome back to the Jeff Porchola from Talk1065. Thank you for staying with us on this Friday morning. Thanks a lot, 2513-3430106. I got a bunch to get to. We will get to those over the next few segments. Also, still to come on the program. Stay seated, Chris Elliott. That's about an hour from now, our returning champion, as I call him. So stay tuned for that. But joining us now is Colleen in the Alabama Senate. All it's a pleasure to bring on State Senator Will Barfoot from Pike Road. Senator, good morning, are you? Very good. How you doing, Jeff? Doing well, thanks for making time. I always come and talk to our audience down here. Well, it was quite a session this year. And I know everybody kind of walked away, just glad to get out of town. But have the wounds almost healed yet? You know, I guess that old saying of time healed everything is probably true. I don't know if enough time is passed to say healed. But I think there's the scab that's developed and it's in the process of healing. We work well, generally speaking, Republicans and Democrats in the House and the Senate. And I expect that we'll be working together to benefit the folks from the State of Alabama and around the state when we get in session next year. Yeah, but I mean, there's always, I guess, a little bit of hard feelings coming out of a session and, you know, but then it's always like a miracle. Everybody's eager to get back once that time of year rolls around. Yes, that's true. You know, Jeff, I'm an attorney and, you know, people would see in the courtroom, you know, maybe me and the lawyer on the other side or it's not just me. But, you know, it happens in the courtroom all the time where folks or you think they're about to rip their head off and fight and, you know, after the case is done where they're drinking a cup of coffee together and talking about talking about their families. So it's, you know, folks are passionate, depending on the issues and putting them inside the aisle and which house you're in, passionate about issues and you arguing your fuss and your fight. But in the end, I think there's a realization that you're trying to do what's best for the folks in your district and ultimately the State of Alabama, so. Yeah, I think you're right about that. Well, the reason I wanted to get you on here, I think, you know, you look at, there's a crime problem, clearly one in Montgomery where you're at, your district is. But this incident Saturday night at Birmingham in the Five Point South neighborhood, I think it's, I don't know that the problem's necessarily Montgomery or this, but I think it's all gang related. It's not clock switches. I mean, maybe that has a little bit to do with it or even, I don't think it's permanently scary at all. But you've kind of led the way on this effort to prosecute this or we call it organized crime. I guess you're not allowed to call it a gang or whatever. But I mean, is it just a matter of time that we'll see the impact of this new law because to be honest, Senator, I mean, it looks like things have kind of escalated in the last few months. Yeah, no, I think, first of all, I think there's a realization that there's none to eat in our paper to change the hearts of people. So, you know, to say that we can pass a law that's going to make everything better is just not the case. I remember back when I was a much younger man and my daddy was about six, two, six, three, I thought he was Andre the Giant, but he used to tell me in my teenage years and said, son, I may not be able to stop you from doing certain things, but I can make you damn well wish you wouldn't have done it. And I think that's the purpose of some of this legislation. And I think, you know, certainly from the federal level, you know, as it pertains to Gox witches, there's already a ban on those. I think, you know, if we were to take that legislation up and pass that, that gives the district attorneys around the state, the tools to prosecute the state court, as far as the organized crime or gang bill that we passed, I do think that'll have some positive impact. I think that you'll start to see some folks who are sentenced under that. And those are some real teeth into it. And I think word does spread, right? And I think those consequences that others have under whatever laws we passed at some point in time, it'll start, people will start realizing, wait a minute, they're not playing around with this. And there's minimums that I could get in prison and no longer will I be able to just go in there and play and wave by hand and say, see you next time. I think, I think there's some benefits to that. I think you'll start to see the fruits of our labor as some of those crimes are prosecuted and some of those sentences handed out under that, under that gang legislation. - Well, tell me this. Do you think, I mean, and I, you know, politics plays a part of everything. And I know this was a, you had to work at it to get this law passed. Do you think these prosecutors, do you find the reaction from them to be, like a willingness to apply the statute if applicable? - In regards to the gang legislation - Yes, sir. - Yeah, I do, I mean, you know, certainly haven't been with all the DAs around the states, but I think that they were eager to have a tool that they could use that when the situation's fit, when it's gang related and they can connect that violence to, you know, that entity or outfit or a group of individuals who had a common goal of causing harm on society, that they were excited that we passed that and anticipate the wide use of that. You know, it's another tool in the toolbox that they could use and it's not, you know, certainly not applicable everywhere. And by the way, you know, I was, I grew up in the 80s and I'm a good bit older, I think than UGF, but, you know, the 80s, it was the bloods and the crips and, and I think what you see a lot of time, at least in Montgomery and I suspect my Montgomery may not be different than Birmingham is, you know, not as organized a group as what we might have seen heard of about in the 80s, but it's rather, you know, this community over here versus another community, this section of town versus another section of town. And, and so I, but I think that that's a law that the DA's office will, you'd be able to use around the state and that there are certainly some, some adverse consequences. As I said, my daddy is saying, damn sure, make sure that, make, make them wish that they hadn't have done that. So. - And, and I, you know, you look at it now and I know hindsight's always 20, 20, but I mean, is there anything you felt like it was left on the table with that statute that, I mean, that could be another tool for prosecutors and law enforcement? - Yeah, you know, I don't know. What we'll see is that as those cases start to develop, obviously, you know, takes a while once, you know, the implementation of that and then charges being brought up and trials and, and sentencing and we'll, we'll get some feedback, I'm sure, from the DA's around the state as to where some tweaks should be, might need to be. And just like any legislation you do, your best job to craft what should be a perfect piece of legislation there is and there's some tweaks along the way, so we'll certainly be listening to that. - I do want to say something though, Jeff. You know, about, you know, this, the violence that's been covered, you know, terrible violence in Birmingham, you know, certainly there's been some in Montgomery and other parts of the state as well. But, you know, this whole political narrative that the concealed carry permit has anything or the lack of a requirement for a concealed carry permit has something to do with this violence, just total nonsense. It really is, I mean, you know this, I'm sure most of your listeners know this, that Alabama was, is, and at least as far back as the research that I've been able to gather has always been an open carry state. In other words, you know, you can walk down the streets of any town carrying a rifle of shotgun or a pistol, out in the open, as long as it wasn't concealed, and that was not against the law. As a matter of fact, the concealed carry permit requirement that was in place for years only applied to pistols. They didn't even apply to a shotgun to rifles. So, you know, I think we have a better system in place as it relates to concealed carry or those who possess a firearm of some type and that is the prohibited person's database that if you've been previously convicted of a felony or certain other crimes that your name will appear on that database. And by the way, that's nothing new. It was just, it is a database that a law enforcement officer in northern part of the state can check somebody from the southern part of the state or anywhere else, and certainly means more than just a, you know, a flimsy piece of paper, a piece of plastic that someone who had a concealed carry permit could show an officer on a back road at two o'clock in the morning. So, I think we've got a much better system and all of these folks who are trying to attribute or in some way connect a lack of a concealed carry permit to this wave of violence and crime that we've experienced seen in the urban areas of Alabama is just, just fake news. - Well, let me, I'm probably devil's advocate here because this is, this is what the Sheriff's will tell you is like you took a, you took a tool out of our tool case here and we pull somebody over at two in the morning and they got a hand good, just concealed. Well, then we can, we can hold 'em, we can take action. And now, without this permitless carry, with this permitless carry law, that's no longer on the table. Now, like I'm, you know, I'm not making the case for them, but what's your response to that? - Well, if they pull somebody over and they're otherwise prohibited, in other words, prior convicted, previously convicted of a felony or had a mental health commitment or a certain DV case is even misdemeanor sense, then they're prohibited. There's a database that they can look in. So, hey, you can't have this, the concealed carry permit, but it's really a quality system. You know, and by the way, to say that pulling somebody over prevented a crime as extremely hard to prove, number one, number two, and I, you know, there's data out there that shows that, you know, at least where I'm from, the penalty phase of that was entitled to terror. And so, I just think it's a faulty method. I think it was a faulty method before. You know, to the extent that when law enforcement pulls you over, there's provisions in the current law that allows them to look at, hold and secure, for sure, a period of time they're far on, so they could make sure they're safe and the occupants of the vehicle are safe. And anyway, I just, I think it's, I think it's fake news and I think it's been perpetrated for a particular purpose. And by the way, you know, it's really not only just fake news that the concealed carry permit or lack of the concealed carry permits, the nexus between all this violence out there. It's really not only disingenuous, it does, it does harm to those victims of suffered that, 'cause now they've been given false information by those folks. - To invite a state senator, we'll barf it here on the program. Senator, moving kind of just beyond this. Now, I know your Montgomery colleague, Reid Ingram, a state representative there, you know, I could accountability act or something to that degree for police departments. And I think you were kind of on board with it if I'm not mistaken. All your colleagues, not really, not really sounding like they really like that idea as much. But I mean, like, what do you see if anything from this point forward, a state response to these situations in Montgomery and Birmingham? - Well, first of all, I do support that bill. You know, I filed it in the Senate representative Ingram has at the house and a breach of all this work that he did in getting that bill drafted. There are certain colleagues who have a fear of that. Hey, you may have a problem in your area, but we don't want the governor or the attorney general to appoint somebody to come into our local police department. I can understand the reservations that they may have, but, you know, certainly, I think, in certain situations is needed. I think we've got a new interim chief that seems to be in all indication of what Montgomery is doing, a good job. We'll see how that legislation progresses as we go forward. It, I think it's a, it is a wake up call to those agencies and those municipalities that are not providing enough resources for law enforcement. And by the way, you know, again, I think the big issue, at least in Montgomery and Birmingham as well, is, you know, you're about half-staff or certainly less than what you need to be. You can't interact with as many people and therefore, you can't, you know, put your eyes on the bad guys. And so, it is a staffing question. No doubt is that that is a huge piece of that puzzle. And then once you have the men and women that have agreed to, you know, be a part of that law enforcement community and you get your numbers up where you need 'em to be, you gotta make sure you have the leadership, proper leadership for that department to make sure that they're, you know, that they have the ulcers back, that they are not just throwing them out there at the rules, they'll go to bat for 'em. And that's from the chief, the sheriff and from the elected leaders around there via the mayor, whoever else. - Well, what do you think it is? Like, what is, why are these municipalities? And it's not just Birmingham and Montgomery, I mean, there's a ton of 'em struggling to staff their police departments and I hear, well, they've gone woke or whatever, but I'm not exactly sure what that means. What do you think it is? - Well, I'll give you my best guess and I think it's a pretty educated guess. So I've never been in law enforcement, daddy retired, policeman here in Montgomery, I don't know if it was policemen and two uncles that were troopers. And so it's not unusual that, or it's not anything that's new that, you know, when you agree to sign on and go into law enforcement, you realize, you know, you may even wind up making the ultimate sacrifice. That's true today, it's certainly true even a hundred years ago and before the end. But what has changed, I think, is, you know, a law enforcement officer around the state and even around the country, for sure, have been villainized, villainized by the media. You see it all the time on social media, you've got, you know, police officers interacting, stopping somebody, questioning them, maybe responded to a crime scene and you've got, you know, a hundred people around, you know, with video cameras and custom ed officers. And who wants to put up with that? You know, not only could you lose your life, not only are you harassed and intimidated by sometimes the citizens around there, villainized by the media, and then, you know, the fear of being prosecuted for doing your job. I mean, that's just a, that's a disrecipes for disaster. And unfortunately, that's where we are in the nation now. And in two of those things change, I don't think you'll see the folks that, that protect us on a daily basis. You won't have to, you won't be turning away people from law enforcement until those things change. - So they're gonna leave it there, but you're very, very, very generous with your time. And thanks for making time for us this morning. - Hey, I always enjoy it, Jeff. Appreciate you to be safe. - All right. Stay shared with Will Barfoot there. We'll be right back. This is Fibdalk, 1065. (upbeat music) ♪ My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my ♪