The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is dropping its rule requiring written permission to carry a firearm into state parks, with the change taking effect on January 1.

The ADCNR announced the change in a statement and cited the Legislature’s repeal of Alabama’s requirement for a permit to carry a concealed handgun.

“The State Park firearms policy is consistent with current Alabama law,” the ADCNR said in a statement. “The State Parks firearms rule will change on January 1, 2023 when the new Alabama law goes into effect and will not require written permission or a concealed carry permit for handguns.”

The ADNCR announcement comes just over a week after a federal lawsuit challenged the state parks rule as an unconstitutional violation of the 2nd Amendment. William Lee Mitchum of Pascogoula, Miss., filed the lawsuit on Oct. 17 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.

Mitchum said citizens should not have to receive permission from a government official to carry a commonly used firearm for protection in places not considered sensitive areas such as courthouses, polling places, or legislative chambers.

Mitchum sued the ADCNR and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall. Lawyers for the AGs’ office have asked the federal court to allow them until Nov. 23 to respond to the lawsuit.

Mitchum, 43, who grew up in Robertsdale and said he is a frequent user of Alabama state parks, said today he did not intend to drop the lawsuit because of the announced rule change.

“The lawsuit does not end based on the comments of a public official,” Mitchum said in an email. “It ends when either we get a judgment from a federal judge, or when the defendants petition the court to dismiss the lawsuit that confirms they will not enforce the unconstitutional rule imposed by DCNR.

“The state, unfortunately, required me to take this action in federal court in order to get the rule changed; I will let the process work itself out. I look forward to seeing the defendants response to the federal lawsuit in the coming weeks.”

The regulation Mitchum is challenging says: “It shall be unlawful for any person other than a duly authorized law enforcement officer to possess or carry into any State Park any form of firearm without written permission of the manager in charge of the State Park visited.”

The regulation says the statutory authority for ADCNR to enforce the rule is not the concealed carry permit law, but another law giving the agency the power to regulate and manage state parks.

The Alabama Legislature repealed the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed handgun earlier this year. Alabama law already allowed open carry of handguns. But it has been illegal to carry a gun concealed, such as under a jacket or in a purse, without a permit from a county sheriff. The permit requirement has also applied to carrying a handgun in a vehicle unless it is unloaded and locked away. The permit requirement ends January 1.