Montgomery, Ala. (AP) Automatic weapons shoot as machine guns.

Ivey is expected to press that proposal on Tuesday as part of a broader package of public security bill in their state speech, pressing Alabama to join almost two other dozen states that already prohibited such devices.

Communities from all over the country have seen mortal shootings carried out with conversion devices, small pieces of metal or plastic, which can be purchased online or manufactured with 3D printers. The devices turn semi -automatic weapons into completely automatic fire, capable of releasing multiple bullets with a trigger. Alabama Democrats have long supported the prohibition of conversion devices, but their bills have not won the final approval in an Alabama Legislature dominated by historically reluctant Republicans to support weapons restrictions.

“Governor Ivey supports that Glock changes the changing hands of gangs and criminals. Together with this measure, it will present several other public security proposals that the police will support and take energetic measures against crime. She expects the package to have bipartisan support, ”said Ivey spokeswoman Gina Maiola.

The conversion devices were used in a shooting in September that killed four people outside a Birmingham hall, the police believe. The rapid dew of difficult controls of control means more victims and more spectators injured or killed, according to the police. The mayor of Birmingham, Randall Woodfin, called Gock Switches “the number one public security problem in our city and state.”

The devices are prohibited according to federal law and in 23 states, according to the Eventown anti-violence group for weapons safety. The supporters said that having a state prohibition will allow local district prosecutors to carry out positions and prosecutions instead of sending cases to federal prosecutors.

The representative Phillip Ensler, a Democrat of Montgomery, has again presented a legislation that would possession of the devices a serious class C crime punished up to 10 years in prison. “These devices wreak havoc. We cannot bring lives back, but we can try to save some lives in the future, ”he said.

The State Representatives Chamber approved Ensler’s bill last year, but the session ended without vote in the Senate. The president of the House of Representatives, Nathaniel Ledbetter, said he hopes that he will win the final approval this year. However, the president of the Senate rules, Jabo Waggoner, R-Tustavia Hills, warned that there is a persistent opposition.

“It’s not going to be an easy pass,” said Waggoner.

The efforts to prohibit devices have had mixed results.

Mississippi and Maryland last year joined the states that have banned devices. But in Pennsylvania, a bill to prohibit the “trigger activators of multiple bubbles” failed in a vote last year in the Chamber of Representatives controlled by Democrat after each Republican and a Democrat voted “no.” In any case, he faced a tough opposition in the Senate controlled by the Republican Party in a state that has historically been protecting weapons rights. In addition to Alabama, Utah, Colorado and Virginia, the proposed state prohibitions are seen, according to Eventown.

Alabama has one of the highest rates of armed violence in the United States in 2022, there were 1,278 deaths related to weapons in Alabama, which was the fourth highest mortality rate in the country in the country, qualifying below Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico.

“Americans living in states with weak weapons laws have been repeatedly harmed by the effect of glock switches,” said Olivia Li, Evertown policy advisor for the safety of weapons.

John Commerford, executive director of the Institute of Legislative Action of the NRA, said that the possession of conversion devices is already a serious crime under federal law, and can carry rigid mandatory sentences when used in a violent crime.

“American lawyers currently have the tool at their disposal to discourage the misuse of these conversion devices: prosecution,” Commerford said.

The prohibition of conversion switches is expected to be one of the multiple projects of Alabama Law focused on public safety. Other expected that are considered include greater incentives to help the agencies of application of the local law with personnel and the use of electronic monitoring to ensure that the youth defendants comply with the conditions of the bonds. The legislation described the bill of “second chance” would also allow judges to review the sentences of non -violent criminals sentenced to life imprisonment under the usual criminal law of the State.

Some Democrats say that state legislators should do more to stop armed violence. The Democrats of the House of Representatives have urged the State to recover the requirement to obtain a permission to carry a hidden gun. The State ended the requirement in 2023.

“It’s time to put aside political rhetoric and take significant measures to solve the problem,” said Ensler.

While there is bipartisan support for the prohibition of conversion devices, Republicans, who have an unequal majority in both cameras, have expressed little appetite for other weapons restrictions. “At the end of the day, they are not weapons, they are people,” Ledbetter said.

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Associated Press’s writer Marc Levy contributed from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Photo: Nichole Smith signs a commemorative sign in September, remembering the four people who died in a shooting outside a nightclub in Birmingham. (AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle)

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Topics Alabama legislation