Luke Brantley

Your Journal-Record staff members took a few moments out of their busy holiday print schedule to share a few of their favorite holiday traditions, both new and old, for readers to enjoy. We hope you have time to slow down for a few moments amidst your own holiday bustle and sip a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and savor these shares, and possibly recall a few of your own favorite childhood traditions or find some inspiration for new ones.

By Luke Brantley

On the rather appropriate date of Friday, Jan. 13, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) released their dreaded final ruling banning pistol braces, and in 120 days when the ruling goes into effect, millions of Americans will arbitrarily become felons if they don’t surrender their guns or register them with the ATF.
Several years ago, when companies first started introducing  stabilizing braces to the market, it presented an interesting legal question. as a weapon with a rifled barrel and a stock that is intended to be fired from the shoulder.

By Luke Brantley
Staff writer
The Alabama state legislature is currently discussing a bill that, if signed into law, would allow Alabamians to carry concealed weapons without a permit.
Currently, anyone who wants to carry concealed must get a permit from the county sheriff. Here in Marion County, it’s a relatively simple process of filling out a form, passing a background check then going to the sheriff’s office to get your picture taken and pay a small fee for the permit. That’s pretty much it.

Governor Kay Ivey recently released a statement pushing back against some of President Biden’s recent vaccine mandates, calling it federal overreach. Many other state leaders and officials have also spoken out against the new mandates for similar reasons.
At the same time, Texas is also challenging federal rulings with its recent abortion ban.
While it’s easy to get caught up in the all the arguments surrounding the issues of masks, vaccines and abortion, I’ve noticed something happening.

My family moved to Winfield when I was halfway through second grade.
My dad had been hired as the youth minister at Winfield First Baptist Church, so we moved to Winfield and have been here ever since.
When we first arrived, my dad was informed of a tradition that applied to newcomers to town.
He was asked to be a pooper scooper in the annual Mule Day parade.
My family used to live in Vernon, so my parents were aware of Mule Day, but I was too young to remember it, so I was hearing of it for the first time.

Last March, the world shut down.
I was still in college at Troy, and all classes went online. All work for the Tropolitan (the student newspaper) was being done virtually.
After a few weeks of not leaving my apartment, I was starting to go insane. I beat all my video games and binge-watched all the shows I’d been planning to watch. Cabin fever was setting in.