BATON ROUGE, La. (BRROUD) — Soon you might not need a permit to carry a gun in Louisiana if certain House representatives have their way. But with mass shootings happening more often, some are concerned about this move.
State lawmakers are working on making Louisiana a permitless carry gun state with House Bill 37. The move comes as the nation works to recover from two mass shootings, just one week apart.
“It removes the government tax and red tape that stands between law-abiding citizens and their second amendment right,” said Rep. Danny McCormick.
Dan Zelenka, Louisiana Shooting Association president, said this bill helps those who can’t afford training and permits.
“Who are economically disadvantaged, who nine hours of class that they will have to travel to may be a problem for them, this will help them,” said Zelenka.
“Louisiana is already an open carry state. It has not turned us into the wild, wild west,” said McCormick.
Those who oppose House Bill 37 said this will only give more people guns.
“We think training is important for many many reasons. You have that basic understanding of how to operate it, how to use it, when to use it,” explained Tom Constanza, executive director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The opposition says this would lead to illegal gun violence or accidental shootings and more trauma to youth.
“House Bill 37 doesn’t promote a culture of life, and the trauma it causes when they see violence in their neighborhoods. So we don’t want any increased trauma to our children,” said Constanza.
Constanza said if the police are against it, you should be too.
“If you have our police officers that are going to be engaging on police stops and they are against this bill, I trust them,” said Constanza.
The bill passed the Senate judiciary committee in a four-to-two vote and is now pending Senate floor action.