A Louisiana Senate committee Wednesday night stripped the permitless concealed carry provisions in a controversial bill and inserted language to allow teachers and administrators to carry concealed firearms at schools.
As amended, the bill would authorize school districts to appoint one or more “school protection officers,” who could be school administrators or teachers. They would be required to take a training course and obtain a permit to carry weapons in the school.
The newly rewritten HB37 now goes to the Senate floor, though it could be diverted to the Senate Finance Committee for a cost review, if a majority agrees. If approved by the full Senate, the measure would have to return to the full House, which would have to approve the new wording before the bill would be sent to the governor.
State Rep. Danny McCormick, the Oil City Republican who sponsored the original House-passed bill, said he would have to study the amendment and its effects before deciding what he would recommend to his House colleagues should it get that far.
Gonzales Republican Sen. Eddie Lambert said his amendments, which removed the original intent of House Bill 37, were necessary.
Lambert said he was reading about the shooting that killed four at a Tulsa hospital just a couple of hours before the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee hearing convened and said he felt safety was now the major concern for lawmakers.
Allowing adults to carry concealed weapons without a permit and no training had little hope of becoming law, Lambert said. But the measure could provide a vehicle to address school safety in light of the shooting deaths of 19 schoolchildren and two teachers last week in Uvalde, Texas.
“The question is, do we pass something to prevent something?” said Lambert, an avid hunter and gun rights supporter. “This is a last chance to really do something.”
With the legislative session ending Monday, legislators can’t file any new bills. But they can amend language into existing bills on the same subject, which is what Lambert did with the consent of the committee that is dominated by Republican senators.
McCormick said the emotions surrounding the killings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde soon after the mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, certainly led to the amendment that gutted his legislation.
House Bill 37 was the most-targeted gun legislation last week as legislators weighed their usual support of gun bills against the killings in Uvalde. That the measure was sent to the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee after advancing through the Senate Judiciary C Committee was one indication.
Moments of silence and impassioned speeches inside the State Capitol echoed pleas from outside the building. For instance, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell noted that the Legislature was considering a number of gun-related legislation but pointed directly at HB37.
“Our gun laws need to emphasize safety, registration and licensing,” she said. “Unfortunately, HB37 does the diametrical opposite by allowing individuals to carry concealed firearms in public. The city of New Orleans stands in strong opposition to this permitless concealed carry bill.”
Debate before Lambert introduced his amendments was mostly about whether the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows people to keep and bear arms, extends to allowing people to carry handguns concealed on their person.
And Sen. Patrick Connick, R-Marrero, relayed that when he voted against overturning the governor’s veto of a similar bill last year, his family was threatened, and a massive mailing from gun rights groups in Colorado, Arizona and Virginia blanketed his district.
“If I don’t vote for your bill, I’m going to be attacked from people out of state,” said Connick, whose district includes hundreds of miles of marsh and swamplands that are frequently used by hunters. “We’re dealing with hate. … It causes this country to divide.”
Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards last year vetoed similar legislation that both chambers approved with veto-proof majorities. But when it came to overriding Edwards’ veto, the Senate couldn’t corral enough votes.
Edwards wrote in his veto message that many police officials opposed the measure. Indeed, Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Lamar Davis was at the hearing, poised to testify.
Davis had previously said that one reason is that the training required to obtain a permit includes what to do when dealing with law enforcement while carrying a gun. Lack of knowledge about the rules of engagement training could create an adversarial situation that could easily escalate. Civilians are trained that they need to tell officers about their concealed weapons.
Edwards told WVUE-TV in New Orleans last week: “My position on that bill hasn’t changed from last year. By the way, two-thirds of the people of Louisiana agree that a permit should be required for concealed carry, most importantly to make sure that people who engage in that have had some level of training, safety training.”
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