Louisiana Senate Bill 101, authored by Senator Blake Miguez, aims to modify laws concerning where firearms can be carried in relation to schools. In speaking to WWL’s Tommy Tucker about Louisiana Senate Bill 101, Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams called the bill “a step in the wrong direction.”
The bill essentially changes the definition of which areas will be considered school zones moving forward by reclassifying some zones previously encompassed within the gun ban.
Controversially, city leaders crafted a gun-free zone within a section of the French Quarter by placing a vocational-technical school at NOPD’s substation on Royal Street. That school’s placement would create a 1,000 ft. gun-free zone in the French Quarter, which had long been plagued by violence. This Senate bill would essentially roll back those protections.
“I don’t see the gain. I don’t know the problem that this piece of legislation solves for human beings close to schools or in the French Quarter. We’ve had great strides in public safety gains, reduced crime in every category more than every other city (and faster) in 2023-2025. Anything that would put our law enforcement officials in harm’s way, I just believe is going in the wrong direction,” Williams told WWL’s Tommy Tucker.
“I understand that Louisiana is a sportsman’s paradise, and I understand that we, as Americans, have a different relationship to firearms than other countries. But, there’s simply nothing to hunt at a school or in a crowd in the French Quarter,” added Williams.
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