Louisiana has taken major steps to expand and protect the right to keep and bear arms in recent years, including adopting a permitless carry law back in 2024. Rep. Danny McCormick was one of the most ardent champions of that change, and he’s actively worked to put other pro-2A measures in place throughout his time in office.
Unfortunately, McCormick has announced that he’s pulling a bill from consideration this session that would have been another major improvement in the state’s gun laws: campus carry.
McCormick said he withdrew his bill because the college students who asked him to file it told him they would be unable to testify in support of it. McCormick said he would be open to filing it again next year if a student will come to the Capitol to speak in favor of the proposal.
Under McCormick’s legislation, adults 18 and older who can legally possess a firearm could have carried on the campus of any college or university that receives any funding from the state of Louisiana. There were a couple of carveouts for places like medical or mental health treatment centers operated by the college or university, events with security screening or controlled access, and even classrooms within the college or university so long as the proper signage was posted.
The exception for classrooms was problematic, and as far as I’m aware Louisiana would have been the only state with a campus carry law that actually prohibited students and faculty from carrying in the classroom. Still, that could have been addressed through an amendment… if McCormick didn’t yank the bill before it could get a hearing.
Even if those students who’d originally requested the legislation be filed couldn’t testify in person, they could always have submitted written testimony, and my guess is that state and national Second Amendment organizations would have been happy to help rally members behind the bill as well. I can’t help but think that McCormick might also have received some pushback from his fellow lawmakers; enough that it was clear the legislation wasn’t going to move this session.
If McCormick’s bill, as written, was too much for his fellow Republicans, there are some ways to ease in to campus carry. Lawmakers could require concealed carry licenses in order to carry on campus, for instance. That’s the case in West Virginia and Texas, for example, even though those states have permitless carry laws in effect.
I will say, though, that states like Kansas that allow for campus carry without a permit haven’t seen any issues, nor have there been any problems with allowing concealed carry in the classroom.
I understand the arguments against campus carry. Some of the most common objections are that college students are too irresponsible for the responsibility, having guns on campus increases the likelihood of their misuse by drunken students or those despondent over grades or personal issues, and higher ed institutions may have trouble recruiting students who would prefer to go to school in a “gun-free zone.”
The truth, though, is that anyone who could carry on campus is already able to carry off-campus. If we trust them at a grocery store, gas station, or shopping mall, why would we expect them to suddenly be irresponsible and dangerous when they’re in the Student Union or an economics class? There is no evidence that campus carry laws lead to more misuse of firearms, including for self-harm, and states that have adopted campus carry simply haven’t seen any dramatic decrease in student population.
It may very well be that supporters of campus carry in Louisiana have some work to do when it comes to educating the public about the benefits of the law and the impact it’s had in states where it’s already been adopted. I hope that 2A advocates around the state will do their best to dispel the myths and fears about campus carry, and McCormick’s bill will have some staying power next session.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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