Security will be tightened in the French Quarter next week as Super Bowl festivities ramp up, and a debate that started in New Orleans last summer will be renewed.
With all of the extra security in the Vieux Carré following the New Year's Day terror attack--including checkpoints and bag searches--will guns be banned in the Quarter?
"No. That's lawful in Louisiana," Metropolitan Crime Commission president/CEO Rafael Goyeneche said. "There's nothing that can be done legally with respect to people bringing firearms into the French Quarter because of the constitutional carry legislation."
The legislation Goyeneche referred to took effect last year after the Louisiana Legislature approved it and Governor Jeff Landry signed it into law.
Goyeneche says the city will be teeming with National Guardsmen and state and local police during Super Bowl week. However, he told WWL's Tommy Tucker that even with the increased police presence and efforts to prevent a second terror attack in the quarter, the so-called constitutional carry law leaves open the possibility of such an attack.
"The National Guard is going to be checking these bags," Goyeneche said. "There's going to be 350 guardsmen assigned to the city. There's probably going to be up to about half of the Louisiana State Police force deployed here during the Super Bowl. That's in addition to the NOPD and all the surrounding sheriff's (offices) that are providing additional support.
"The city is going to be staffed to the level that we've never seen from a law enforcement perspective before," Goyeneche added. "I think the city is going to be safe, but the thing that threatens the safety of the city are some of the laws of Louisiana that impede law enforcement's ability to better protect and serve the people of the city."
Although National Guardsmen and local law enforcement will be inspecting bags of people coming into the French Quarter next week, Goyeneche says law enforcement can't stop anyone from bringing a firearm into the area.
"If someone's bag is being checked, and they discover that there's a handgun and ammunition in it, they have no recourse but to let them walk into the French Quarter, and that poses a real threat," Goyeneche said.
Supporters of the permit-less concealed carry law say that it allows more "good guys" to carry guns and possibly stop a terror attack or other crime from happening. Goyeneche believes that logic is flawed.
"Anyone that knows anything about firearms knows that you cannot safely discharge your firearm in a crowd of people," Goyeneche said. "That's an inherent flaw (in the law). In Louisiana, there are exceptions to people being able to carry firearms into police stations, into airports, into schools, and into the state capitol because the threat to safety outweighs the constitutional right to carry a firearm."
