The lie that could land you in an Alabama jail

Mobile, Ala. (WPMI) — A change in Alabama law now means you can go to jail for telling a certain lie. Two men found that out the hard way after Mobile Police say they didn't tell officers they had guns.

On January 9th during a traffic stop near Linwood Drive and Englewood Street, Mobile Police say officers asked the people in the car if they had guns. Police say 18-year-old passenger Jaymon Johnson had one but didn't fess up. Five days later as police responded to reports of street racing on Paper Mill Road and McKinley Street, officers stopped a car and asked the driver, 19-year-old Gabriel Lang, if he had weapons. Police say he denied having any but a shotgun was visible in the car. Both men are now charged with carrying a concealed weapon. That's a new misdemeanor offense in the state of Alabama.

"The public needs to also understand that as a part of the new law, if an officer stops you whether you're in a car or whether you're walking down the street, and they have the right to stop you, and they ask you if you have a weapon, you have a lawful duty as a citizen, to advise that officer that you have a weapon," said Mobile Police Chief Paul Prine.

Johnson is set to appear in municipal court March 1st. Lang is set to appear on March 15th. The change took effect January 1st this year after lawmakers last session did away with pistol permit requirements to carry a concealed gun.

"We're moving into an area now where for the first time in many, many decades, we don't have a pistol permit law. But there are still things that we can do," said Prine.

Lang is out of Metro Jail. Johnson was arrested Wednesday and is being held at the jail for another agency in a different case.