After a bill to allow non-felon adults to conceal carry without a permit in Louisiana passed in the special session, a lawmaker wants to provide more clarification to the law. New Orleans Representative Mandie Landry said her bill would clearly define where one can and cannot carry instead of multiple laws she said can be conflicting.
“Some of these people keep saying you already can’t carry one on a parade route, you already can’t carry one here, but it’s kind of vague and a lot of these things are not clear, so we need to clean up some of the language,” said Landry.
Current law prohibits firearms in a bar or near a school, and then another law bans guns at parades, but Landy said vague language doesn’t define what “near” means and there are also concerns about one of the state’s most popular tourist destinations.
“There are laws we have in place that need to be clarified. But what also some people want to do is extend current gun-free zones, which are like schools and churches, to the entire French Quarter,” said Landry.
Landry said private businesses have always been allowed to prohibit employees and patrons from carrying firearms on their property.
But with the new concealed carry law, which doesn’t require training on how to use a gun nor education on state laws going into effect July 4th, Landry wants to provide clarification on where you can and cannot carry a firearm before Independence Day.
“Why are we letting people who don’t have any training and who don’t have any knowledge of this, more of them walk around? Because people who have a certification know a whole lot more about their firearm and where they can bring it,” said Landry.
House Bill 627 would define that a firearm is prohibited within 1,000 feet of a parade or a demonstration at a government entity, for example, a rally at the state capitol.
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