Louisiana Gun Law Debate Gets Ugly Again

It's that time of year when the legislature takes a look at what the state needs. Some folk out of the Brady bunch want to see Louisiana change its laws, but those Southern shooters are hanging tight.

In Louisiana hunting is as much religion as sport, with every person big enough to carry a gun having one available. Some keep them for snakes in the bushes, others for the what ifs in the neighborhood, those events where some stranger intrudes. Others keep them for hunting. But whatever the reason, guns are sacred to Louisiana folks. Those who are involved with the Brady campaign to restrict the use of guns get right up against the proverbial stone wall with these folks. David Vitter, whose reputation was soiled by hanging out with hookers, is supported by the big gun lobby, the National Rifle Association. He is front and center in support of keeping the gun laws the same, if not expanding their use. Louisiana has the most lax of gun laws, virtually no restrictions; and people like it that way. This is in the face of facts showing Louisiana to rank high in violent crime rate, mostly involving guns. Last year after an incident on a Louisiana campus, the discussion got hot about students having guns on campus. It remains a controversial idea, but if it is ever to be implemented Louisiana would be the first. The Supreme Court under Anthonin Scalia has reduced the possibility by ruling, after the Washington DC decision removing certain gun restrictions, the “court’s opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibition on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as school and government building.” Still the passions about guns and risks provoked Governor Jindal to say before he ran for Governor, and while Kathleen Blanco was in office, that he would have armed the citizens of New Orleans so they could have defended themselves during the events of Hurricane Katrina. The Brady bunch shows scientific studies showing that the more guns the more crimes and the rate of violence increasing in homes and communities where guns exist. Still that doesn't budge Louisiana people for whom their cultural affinity for weapons can't be undone. Recently a group of adult males were hanging out after jamming with music. The conversation turned to guns, and the laughter grew loud as the fellows talked about their graduation decades ago when folks were shooting around and a little bit at each other for sport. As Charleston Heston once said, "from my cold, dead hands" is the watchword of the men around these parts. A discussion that ensued with someone who asked about restrictions found the debate getting ugly, as it likely does in many places where having any restrictions is fought against. It's hunting season here. No matter that hunting isn't quite the same as it once was with men in the wilds. Now areas are "seeded" with stuff to bait the deer who step into the target zone. Then they become trophy as men take their shots. The gun laws are up for discussion again, but it's likely a recent press release just received from the Brady group will fall on legislator's ears who are attuned to their public. And their public, no matter the fact that Louisiana is a leader in crime rate, won't likely want more restrictions on guns.