Senator Blake Miguez
New Iberia Senator Blake Miguez is seeking an attorney general’s opinion over University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s decision to establish a one-thousand-foot gun-free zone around several off-campus locations.
“Classified the U-L Lafayette Science Museum and all the contracted private hotels that they use for overflow of student housing as school property as it relates for RS 1495.6 making it a gun-free zone,” Miguez said.
If a one-thousand foot gun-free school zone is established around the U-L Lafayette Science Museum, it would be illegal to possess a gun for a large portion of downtown Lafayette.
Miguez, a strong advocate for gun rights, argues that the university’s move infringes on Second Amendment rights and state laws that permit the carrying of firearms in public spaces.
The controversy centers on the university’s authority to impose these restrictions outside its main campus. Miguez argues that the gun-free zones could leave students and the public more vulnerable by disarming law-abiding citizens in areas that are not technically on university property.
“And it is clearly an inaccurate interpretation of the existing law on the books and I believe that it deprives Louisiana citizens, and Lafayette residents and those residents around Acadiana of their Second Amendment right of self-defense.”
UL Lafayette officials maintain that gun-free zones are necessary to ensure safety, particularly in densely populated areas where students and faculty frequently gather. Miguez says to be considered school property, they would have to own the property.
“In the situation of the Lafayette Science Museum, that was a cooperative endeavor agreement that the University has with the local government just to operate the facility as a museum and not actually operate it as part of their campus.”
Attorney General Liz Murrell has previously said that she does not believe the museum to qualify as a gun-free zone, but she has not commented on the two hotels.
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