HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - Alabama's new gun law goes into effect Aug. 1, and it gives employees the right to carry guns to their workplace in their vehicles. But gun owners shouldn't automatically expect to carry their guns inside the office or inside any other public place in the state.





"We cannot prevent an employee from having a firearm in their car," Huntsville Hospital Vice President for Communications and Marketing Burr Ingram said Friday, "but we will continue to prohibit any guns inside Huntsville Hospital facilities."

Huntsville Hospital has 8,000 employees and is one of North Alabama's largest employers. He wasn't the only manager contacted Friday who didn't want guns inside.

Mike Durant is president of Huntsville's Pinnacle Solutions and well-known for his experiences as a prisoner in Mogadishu, Somalia recounted in the book "Black Hawk Down." Durant said Friday he has no problem with the car-carry provision of the law. But told that some Alabama businesses are putting "No Guns Allowed" stickers on their front doors, Durant said that is "probably prudent."

Rule 20 on the code of acceptable behavior for patrons of Huntsville's Parkway Place Mall bans guns. (Lee Roop/lroop @al.com)

Where the law allows regarding concealed or openly carried weapons inside public places is still unclear. State officials have held training sessions for business owners and law enforcement officers, business journals have filed advisory stories, and news outlets including al.com have reported on the issue.

The law gives business owners broad rights to control who is on their property or what employees do while representing them. But beginning Aug. 1, they do not allow businesses to ban legal "transportation or storage" of guns in a workplace parking area.

Bans on carrying guns - backed up by trespassing laws - are common at many public facilities such as shopping malls. Such a ban is Rule 20 on the "Behavioral Code of Conduct" posted inside each door at Huntsville's Parkway Place shopping mall, for example. A sheriff in one Alabama county is printing "no guns allowed" signs for businesses and churches that want to ban guns.

"It doesn't change what we're doing," Joe Black, manager of Parkway Place and Madison Square Mall, said of the new law Friday afternoon. "We've had the policy as long as I remember. We have just never allowed it in the mall."

Madison County sheriff's Chief Deputy Chris Stephens said the question of carrying into businesses and other public places "is an area we're concerned about." Stephens said Madison County's reading of the law is that the law does allow carrying guns inside public places where they are not already banned "unless an agent of the business asks you not to." Places where guns are banned include many government buildings and facilities holding school athletic events.

If a business owner or his or her agent says no, it's no, Stephens said. And making their policy clear at the door is why many businesses around Alabama will be posting "no guns allowed" signs or stickers on their doors in the next few days.

Stephens said the new law is complex. His training Powerpoint presentation for deputies tops 60 slides, he said, and Madison County is updating the FAQs on its website to answer questions. It is also printing new handouts for distribution.

Conversations with Huntsville business owners Friday morning, however, indicated that many are still unaware of the new law or when it goes into effect. "I did not know that," one business spokeswoman said, asking not to be identified. "I was not personally aware of that," said another.

(This story was updated July 26, 2013 at 2:45 p.m. CDT to include quotes from mall manager Joe Black and sheriff's deputy Chris Stephens. Also updated headline)

(This story was updated July 26, 2013 at 3:05 p.m. to clarify that the law generally allows guns inside public buildings except those where they are already banned or where owners or agents act to ban them now.)

