On July 4, America’s Independence Day, the great state of Louisiana will become the 28th state to allow gun owners to carry firearms without them first having to get the state government’s permission to do so.
The author of the bill, State Senator Blake Miguez, was jubilant: “We are again empowering law-abiding American citizens with the means to protect themselves and their families from violent criminals. No more begging the government for permission to protect what’s ours in Louisiana.”
On Wednesday, the bill allowing permitless carry for those age 18 and older passed the state’s legislature, and the state’s governor, Jeff Landry, has promised to sign it into law. It will become effective on July 4.
Governor Landry preempted the expected pushback from anti-gun groups in his remarks in opening the special session on Wednesday, anticipating their complaints that more guns would mean more crime:
While criminals carry guns without regard for the law, lawful gun owners are our most law-abiding citizens. Their armed presence helps deter violent crime.
It is time Louisiana joined 27 other states who have created a constitutional right to carry a firearm without the government’s permission.
This body has repeatedly passed it.
Now you have a governor who will sign it.
He was right in expecting pushback. Angelle Bradford, speaking for the state’s chapter of the anti-gun group Moms Demand Action, pouted:
Louisiana Republicans have chosen to make our restaurants, schools, grocery stores, parks, and everywhere else we go more vulnerable to gun violence.
Instead of serving the Louisianians they were sworn to protect, these lawmakers are bowing to a gun lobby that feeds on their political ambition to rake in millions of dollars — all while not taking any responsibility for the role it plays in tearing our families apart.
The underlying assumption is that allowing the Second Amendment to rule results in more gun violence. But, according to John Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), those carrying a firearm concealed on their person are among the least likely to commit a gun-related crime. And further, their ability to defend themselves and others has measurably reduced violent crime.
According to Lott, just six people with a permit out of a million are involved in a gun-related incident. And most of those “appear to be self-defense shootings,” said Lott.
Lott’s group tracks defensive gun uses every month on his website, with the number averaging around 25 nationwide. This number is far smaller than reality simply because most of these defensive incidents prevent a crime from happening, and therefore are not reported to law enforcement.
Said Governor Landry:
I questioned a friend who has been in law enforcement his entire adult life, whether he ever pursued or arrested someone for homicide who possessed a concealed carry permit. He could not cite a single instance.
While criminals carry guns without regard for the law, lawful gun owners are our most law-abiding citizens. Their armed presence helps deter violent crime.
Unfortunately, the law was watered down somewhat to get it passed. When it becomes law on July 4, carrying will be restricted in schools and churches, declaring them to be de facto “gun free zones.”
Fourteen years ago, just two states allowed constitutional carry. Now the number is 28, with South Carolina about to join them. But the low-hanging fruit is just about gone. The Reload website suggests that 30 states will have shortly adopted constitutional carry, but the Second Amendment in the remaining 20 states faces an uphill battle. Wrote Jake Fogleman: “[Those] states would either be fairly evenly split purple states or outright deep-blue bastions where a permitless carry bill will not see the light of day.”
There is hope, however, that as the crime surge anticipated by the anti-gun Left fails to materialize in permitless-carry states, and gun violence in those gun-free states continues to climb, pressure to recognize the right to keep and bear arms without prior state government permission will grow.
