State 28? Constitutional Carry on the Move in Louisiana

Legislation to end a permitting requirement for concealed carry is on the move in Louisiana and would make the state the 28th to adopt constitutional carry as the law of the land.

Constitutional carry passed the Louisiana legislature two years ago and Breitbart News reported that Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) vetoed it June 4, 2021.

It is on the move again and WWLTV noted it would “[allow] any law-abiding gun owner over 18, to carry a concealed handgun in the state.”

On May 25, 2023, Biz New Orleans observed the constitutional carry legislation, sponsored by Rep. Danny McCormick (R), had passed out of committee. McCormick noted:

Louisiana is already an open carry state which allows law-abiding citizens to carry their firearms openly without mandatory training… Allowing those same law-abiding men and women to wear a jacket in colder weather or place their firearms in a purse while wearing a dress also would not cause chaos.

The same argument was made when constitutional carry was being debated in New Hampshire, when permitless open carry was legal but covering the gun with a jacket or sweatshirt was not.

There are currently 27 constitutional carry states in the Union.

Those states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

(Florida’s constitutional carry law takes effect July 1, 2023 and Nebraska’s constitutional carry law takes effect September 10, 2023.)

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.