After Louisiana lawmakers adopted Constitutional Carry earlier this year, New Orleans officials were quick to demand a carveout to the new law. A New Orleans-area legislator introduced a bill that would have made much of the downtown business district and the French Quarter a “gun-free zone”, but when the Republican majority rejected that idea, the city got a little more creative in its anti-gun endeavors by declaring a NOPD substation in the French Quarter an educational facility.
Under the Gun-Free School Zones Act, possession of a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school is prohibited in most circumstances unless the individual has a concealed carry license. While the city’s designation doesn’t create a true “gun-free zone” in the French Quarter, it does mean that a concealed carry permit is necessary to lawfully carry in most of the heavily-visited tourist district.
Now a second city in the state is taking a page from New Orleans’ playbook, hoping to create a carveout of its own.
Much of downtown Lafayette is now a gun-free zone because of a new designation for the Lafayette Science Museum.
The University of Louisiana and the Lafayette Police Department announced the designation on Monday, August 12, under a state law that applies to educational campuses. The designation means no one can legally carry a firearm within 1,000 feet of the building, which includes much of the downtown area.
The new zone is a response to shootings like the one just minutes into the New Year that happened in the shadow of not only the science museum but a children’s playground as well. Many who work and visit downtown support the move.
“It makes me feel a lot safer knowing that evil people with guns aren’t running around killing people,” said Saint Jermaine. “It allows families to be safe downtown.”
Despite the local media’s reporting to the contrary, downtown Lafayette isn’t “gun-free”. Not only can those with active carry licenses still bear arms downtown, criminals can (and will) still carry in violation of the law. The shooting that happened “minutes into the New Year” took place before the state adopted Constitutional Carry, and the requirement that gun owners possess a valid carry license didn’t stop an 18-year-old from allegedly illegally carrying a firearm and using it to murder a 35-year-old man.
The city’s move might make some residents feel safer, but it does nothing to actually improve public safety. And according to Louisiana’s Attorney General, Lafayette’s attempt to get around the state’s Constitutional Carry law is on shaky legal ground.
State Attorney General Liz Murrill is skeptical.
“The gun-free school zones law is narrow in nature,” she wrote in a statement to News 15. “I am looking into this matter further, but the fact that the museum is owned or operated by University of Louisiana at Lafayette is insufficient to trigger the gun-free school zone law. As far as I know, it’s just a building in downtown Lafayette almost a mile from campus.”
The statute may be narrow in nature, but that isn’t stopping local officials from trying to broaden it by labeling certain buildings educational facilities. If Murrill can’t put a stop to these efforts to ignore Constitutional Carry, Louisiana lawmakers will need to revisit this issue in the next session… and Second Amendment advocates may need to pursue lawsuits to bring these cities to heel.
