MONTGOMERY, Ala (WRBL)- In the last 13 months, Alabama has lost seven law enforcement officers in the line of duty.  Several lawmakers are supporting a bill to help protect law enforcement lives by creating a statewide pistol permit database. 

Law enforcement officers say often times when they pull a car over, they’re not sure if there’s a gun in the car. This bill would create statewide information database of pistol permits to hopefully help them in that situation.

The Alabama Sheriffs Association is throwing their support behind a bill to create the Alabama Responding Officer Warning System.

“There’s two purposes behind this: It’s to protect our citizens. It’s to protect our law enforcement officers by giving them an information base, a database, if you will,” said Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones.

Under current law, concealed carry permits are issued by the sheriffs.

This bill would create a statewide database of people authorized to carry a pistol in a car or concealed on them.

“It’s about keeping officers safe. It’s not about permits. It’s not about people knowing who has permits,” said Montgomery County Sheriff Derrick Cunningham.

Bill sponsor Rep. Shane Stringer calls the AROWS system a huge step towards saving law enforcement.

“We lost seven officers last year. We’re trying to better and learn from that and to work on trying to better protect our officers,” said Rep. Shane Stringer of Mobile.

The bill hasn’t been assigned to a committee yet, but News 3 will follow this throughout the legislative process.