Just days after Louisiana legislators approved a law that would allow Louisiana residents to carry a concealed gun without first obtaining a permit, a New Orleans legislator has filed a bill for the regular legislative session exempting parts of New Orleans from the permitless concealed carry bill.
That bill has the backing of Mayor LaToya Cantrell, members of the city council, and police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick.
Rep. Alonzo Knox (D-New Orleans) filed House Bill 498 on Friday. That bill would expand the state's current gun-free zone law to include the French Quarter, the Downtown Development District, and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The boundaries of the proposed gun-free zone include the Superdome, the Smoothie King Center, Louis Armstrong Park, the entire Central Business District, and the entire Warehouse District.
School campuses and school buses remain gun-free areas under the proposal. Private homes and vehicles, certain businesses, and certain government buildings would also be exempted.
Mayor Cantrell said the new permitless concealed carry law, authored by Sen. Blake Miguez (R-New Iberia) and championed by Governor Jeff Landry, is concerning to the city of New Orleans because it will impact the public safety of residents and tourists alike.
"We saw drastic declines relative to violent crime in the city of New Orleans based on our holistic declines and, of course, the response of our officers every day in this city, and with our unified approach to public safety," Cantrell said. "That also includes in terms of the unified approach and command our partners in the state and at the federal level that has been working in collaboration with the New Orleans Police Department, again, yielding great results on the ground. The city absolutely is safer, and we're wanting to continue to move in that direction--a safer city.
"The greatest concern with the legislation is that there will be more guns on the streets in our city, people coming into our city with weapons and the like, again, creating a more unsafe environment."
Cantrell highlighted the unified command's efforts to remove guns from the streets during Mardi Gras as an example of how well law enforcement is fighting crime. It's a sentiment that an angry Kirkpatrick echoed.
"This particular bill was not well thought through," Kirkpatrick said. "It is more of an emotional reaction and not the result of the sober critical thinking about the impacts. Do you want to know real numbers? Just during the Mardi Gras time period, we took 111 arrests associated with arrests with guns off of those parade routes and in the entertainment district and in the French Quarter. If that bill had been in effect three weeks ago, we would be returning 56 of those guns back. That's your reality. We have too many guns in New Orleans."
Kirkpatrick called the bill a one-sized approach to fighting crime that does not fit all parts of Louisiana, including the Crescent City.
"New Orleans is unique. Everyone speaks about the uniqueness of New Orleans, and it is unique," Kirkpatrick said. "So why do we have one bill that would be perfectly fine in a different area of Louisiana? Lord knows I've been in a whole lot of different jurisdictions. You do not police every jurisdiction the same way!"
Kirkpatrick then criticized the legislators who pushed the bill through the special crime session.
"Critical thinking is what lacked in this bill," Kirkpatrick said. "What I mean by that is: when that domino drops, you should have through of every single impact with the very last domino that is dropped. So if we say that law-abiding people are the ones who are going to be gun carriers, I'm all for law-abiding carrying a gun. Law-abiding people have zero problems with getting a permit. Law-abiding people have zero problems being educated on proper gun safety."
Kirkpatrick also noted that the new law could put police officers in jeopardy of being shot or of shooting an innocent person.
My issue as well is: let's say a citizen who is carrying a gun gets involved in an event and pulls his or her gun out, our officers who are responding to that scene, when they arrive, they have no idea who the good guy is and who the bad guy is. All that they're going to see is a gun. You could also have good men and women who intended to do well actually find themselves in crossfire (or) in friendly fire because these officers don't know."
Kirkpatrick added that she hoped that the state legislature would reconsider their bill. City council member Helena Moreno said that could happen.
"I myself have had conversations with Senator Miguez, who filed and passed Senate Bill 1. He says that he's open to continued conversations. He didn't commit beyond that, but at least the conversation continues."
Moreno said Rep. Knox's proposal is gaining bipartisan support.
"I've received calls from Republican legislators are very interested in supporting an initiative like this," Moreno said.
