With recent events and with the adoption of Constitutional Carry on July 4, many people are considering carrying a firearm. It is very important to understand the laws involved with this and to seek proper training in order to safely protect yourself, your property, and others.
In order to help you with this we are sharing the following post by the Vice President of the Louisiana Shooting Association (LSA), who is an Attorney and Concealed Carry Instructor in Baton Rouge. The LSA have worked with the legislature on Constitutional Carry for years now, and wanted to provide useful information for anyone who may wish to take advantage of this new law.
They included the following disclaimer: Though I am an attorney, nothing in this post constitutes official legal advice and is for educational purposes only. Reading this post does not form any attorney-client relationship, and you assume full, personal responsibility for being in compliance with any relevant law.
First, some background information. Louisiana is now the 28th state to enact a form of Constitutional Carry legislation, so really this is no longer new and cutting edge. It has been the majority of the country for a few years now. Further, Louisiana has always been a “Permitless Carry” state in a sense, as permitless open carry for anyone 18 or older has always been legal since the State’s inception in 1812. It is constitutionally protected in Louisiana, and has been even before our 2012 Amendment to Article 1, Section 11 of the State Constitution. See State v. Bias, 37 La.Ann 259 (La. 1885). The first iteration of our current Concealed Handgun Permit statute came about in 1996, and has been modified over the years to change the regime slightly here and there. So people carrying guns open and concealed is nothing new.
I provide this background information for two reasons – one, it will help make sense of some of the legal issues that regulate the area under the new law. Second, to hopefully ease the concerns of some people out there who may not understand this area of law well. As I hope to show below, this change to the law is not all THAT substantial relative to what has been the status quo in Louisiana for a long time. Permitless open carry has always been the law, but concealed carry is by far the more socially acceptable and generally desired method, both from a social and practical standpoint. In a sense, this just modernizes what has always been.
1. What does the law do?
In short, the current law now allows anyone who could have legally open carried with no permit to legally carry concealed with no permit. However, anyone carrying concealed with no permit still has all the same duties and restrictions of people carrying with permits on top of what they would if they were open carrying.
What that means is that, if you are 18 or older and can legally be in possession of a handgun, you can carry that handgun concealed on your person. However, you must abide by all the rules and restrictions that have been in place both for open carry AND for permitted concealed carry, as follows:
A. You cannot carry under the influence of alcohol or a controlled dangerous substance (including prescription drugs). For the purposes of concealed carry, the maximum blood alcohol concentration allowable is 0.05, lower than for driving. (La R.S. 40:1379.3 I(1))
B. If a law enforcement officer approaches you in an official manner or with an official purpose, you must inform the officer that you are carrying a concealed handgun, and, if the officer chooses to, you must submit to a pat down and be temporarily disarmed for the duration of the encounter. (La R.S. 40:1379.3 I(2))
C. You cannot carry a concealed handgun in any of the following prohibited locations from the Concealed Handgun Statute (La R.S. 40:1379.3 M, N, and O):
(1) A law enforcement office, station, or building.
(2) A detention facility, prison, or jail.
(3) A courthouse or courtroom, provided that a judge may carry such a weapon in his own courtroom.
(4) A polling place.
(5) A municipal building or other public building or structure, only if the building or structure is utilized as the meeting place of the governing authority of a political subdivision.
(6) The state capitol building.
(7) Any portion of an airport facility where the carrying of firearms is prohibited under federal law, except that no person shall be prohibited from carrying any legal firearm into the terminal, if the firearm is encased for shipment, for the purpose of checking such firearm as lawful baggage.
(8) Any church, synagogue, mosque, or other similar place of worship, unless authorized by the person who has authority over the administration of the church, synagogue, mosque, or other similar place of worship.
(9) A parade or demonstration for which a permit is issued by a governmental entity.
(10) Any portion of the permitted area of an establishment that has been granted a Class A-General retail permit to sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises (in short, a bar and some other places)
(11) Any school, school campus, or school bus as defined in R.S. 14:95.6.
(12) in the private residence of any person without first receiving their permission.
(13) any other place where the carrying of firearms is prohibited by the lawful custodian of the property (i.e., posted “no guns” signs).
D. You also cannot carry in the following places which are prohibited for open carry, but not for permitted carriers, as will be discussed in the next section:
(1) Within 1000 feet of any school (a “school zone”) (La R.S. 14:95.2 and 95.6)
(2) in ANY place that sells alcohol for consumption on the premises (including restaurants). (La R.S. 14:95.5)
Carrying in violation of any of the above is still a crime.
2. Are there still permits, and why would I get one?
A careful reading of the above will show that getting a concealed handgun permit is still necessary if you intend to carry concealed regularly and in most places. It is EXTREMELY critical to point out that those two places in section D above do NOT apply to concealed handgun permits.
If you have a permit, you can legally be within 1000 feet of a school. This is both a state AND a federal law, and the only exception to both is for permits issued by the state. Violation of this is also the only prohibited location that is a felony. You can check maps for most cities to show where the school zones are, and a quick glance will show you that a huge amount of most cities is included in these zones. Here is the map of East Baton Rouge Parish, for example: https://data.brla.gov/Public-Safety/School-Gun-Free-Zone/rft4-hjp5
Second, the blanket prohibition on carrying firearms in alcoholic beverage outlets (14:95.5) has an exception for permit holders allowing them to carry in restaurants that serve alcohol. So you have to have a permit to be in most restaurants, as most restaurants serve alcohol.
Obviously, if you intend to carry a concealed handgun with any regularity, you will still need a permit if only for the restriction on carrying in these two places. You will almost certainly go eat at a restaurant that serves alcohol, and it would be VERY difficult to manage to avoid these school zones at all times.
Please note that having a firearm in your vehicle is an exception to the school zone law as well, so you can drive through the school zone, or otherwise legally leave your gun in your car if necessary. However, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU LEAVE A FIREARM IN YOUR VEHICLE THAT IS NOT LOCKED IN SOME KIND OF SECURE CONTAINER. This is how most stolen guns are stolen, and they make many different kinds of vehicle safes. Even a simple one will stop most smash-and-grab vehicle burglaries.
Finally, having a permit grants you concealed carry reciprocity with most other states. While 27 other states (which we have reciprocity with) also have permitless carry, there are some that don’t, and some of these states may also have similar laws to ours where permit holders have greater rights.
So, in short, constitutional carry is great for people who may wish to carry a concealed handgun on a limited basis, only to certain places where it is lawful to do so. It also clarifies a long-standing question of law as to whether it is legal to carry a concealed handgun on your own private property with no permit (your private property is also exempt from the gun free school zones). It may also be good for people who wish to experiment with concealed carry to decide if they wish to pursue getting a permit to carry with greater regularity. Permits are expensive (about $300 every five years) which significantly disadvantages people of limited means, who often have the highest need for self-defense. Finally, it is my hope that it means fewer guns are left in cars, as now people will be able to keep the gun on them more often, where it is much less likely to be stolen.
As a final thought, while training is not mandatory for the new permitless carry law, training is ALWAYS advisable. If you’ve read this far, you’ve seen just how much there is to know about this to stay in compliance with the law. There’s also a lot to know about how to carry a concealed handgun effectively, safely, and comfortably, in addition to shooting skills themselves.
You can find the original post here.