By: Teresa Mull
As a handful of fickle senators pulled a switcheroo in Louisiana, Constitutional Carry will not be state law.
Constitutional Carry is the policy that enables law-abiding citizens to carry firearms as the Constitution intended – without first begging the government permission to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Louisiana passed a Constitutional Carry bill weeks ago, but Gov. John Bel Edwards refused to sign it, saying, “My position on this has not changed. A law enforcement officer doesn’t want to discover someone with whom they’re engaging has a firearm for the first time while they are actually searching them and that leads a lot of problems.”
A two-thirds majority was required to override Edwards’ veto, something the legislature was unable to do.
“During its initial passage in June, the House voted for it 73-28 and the Senate voted for it 27-9 — above the required two-thirds,” reports the Louisiana Illuminator. “Republicans and a handful of Democrats in both chambers supported the legislation, but some of those Senators changed their positions on Tuesday. Those included Sen. Gary Smith (D-Norco), Sen. Patrick Connick (R-Marrero), Sen. Louie Bernard (R-Natchitoches), Sen. Franklin Foil (R-Baton Rouge) and Sen. Greg Tarver (D-Shreveport).”
For now, at least, Louisianans will still be required to take nine hours of training classes and apply for a permit before carrying a firearm, while criminals carry freely and freely wreak havoc with firearms to their hearts’ content.
Teresa Mull ([email protected]) is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.