A new Louisiana law will allow veterans and active-duty military members to carry concealed guns without a license.
That bill, Senate Bill 143 by Senator Jay Morris (R-West Monroe) cleared the legislature with only one "no" vote and was signed into law by Governor Edwards. It takes effect on August 1.
This version of permitless carry allows any Louisiana resident who meets the eligibility requirements to possess a concealed handgun permit, and who is a reserve or active-duty member of any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, Louisiana National Guard or Louisiana Air National Guard, to be totally exempt from the requirement of carrying a concealed handgun permit. The law goes on to cover former members of any branch of the armed forces or national guard who has been honorably discharged from service.
Could this bill be the first step in extending "constitutional carry" rights to all Louisiana residents? UL Monroe political science professor Pearson Cross thinks so.
"This certainly could be seen as the first step to the universality of granting concealed carry to all law-abiding Louisiana citizens," Dr. Cross said.
A bill removing concealed carry licensing requirements for all Louisiana residents died in the Senate on the final day of the regular legislative session. The House approved a conference committee version of the legislation by a two-thirds margin that same day.
Dr. Cross believes if lawmakers take up similar legislation next year, the controversy that surrounded this year's bill will remain.
"Some people who are very strongly in favor of this think that's what the Constitution grants us," Dr. Cross said. "Other people would say 'Are you crazy? The United States has a mass shooting every day. Allowing all these people to carry guns is just basically throwing fuel on the fire.'"
Still, Dr. Cross believes Louisiana's new veteran concealed carry law could become model legislation for other states.
"I think this experiment is going to point to whether or not its feasible to extend concealed carry in Louisiana even further," Dr. Cross said.
"If we get people carrying and there are a lot more gun deaths and a demonstrable rise in crime or other crimes of shootings, I think we'll see public opinion turn against this kind of concealed carry. If it doesn't seem to produce that, we may see a movement towards saying, 'Why not include everyone?'
"We know there are a number of other conservative states and a number of states where gun rights are respected and revered, and we know Louisiana has put itself on the map in regards to this," Cross added. "As far as I know, Louisiana is the only state so far that has basically just said it's carte blanche. If you're a veteran and you've kept your nose clean, you can carry concealed without any training, without any problem, without any permission, without getting a license."