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In Louisiana, we don't have Constitutional Concealed Carry, but there is a Representative, Barry Ivey, that has proposed it for the last 3 years, the first two, through constitutional amendments and the last, through legislation.
Of course, for any bill, it must go through the criminal justice committee of our state. This is a group of representatives composed of equal parts Democrat and Republican, with an Independent. The first two years, the entire board voted against a constitutional amendment. This last year, in May, all but one Republican voted FOR it, but it was still less than a majority.
As usual, before the vote, people get to share their opinions and facts about the legislation. For 3C, people used the arguments that it doesn't effect anyone but law abiding citizens, such as the low income, who can't afford the license and all the fees that go along with it. Further, criminals don't care about the law, they'll conceal carry, regardless. All these arguments are 100% accurate and anyone that reads a newspaper, online article or isn't in a coma knows it.
On the other side of the argument, the star opinion came from a teacher who was shot in Lafayette, at the movie theater. Part of her testimony included something like this, '... and he applied for a concealed carry permit in Alabama, but was denied.' This is her justification for why we need concealed carry permits. She doesn't address the fact that, despite being denied a CC permit in Alabama, he still brought a concealed weapon into a movie theater, without a permit and shot 9 people; the denial of a CC permit did not stop him from carrying his firearm into the theater and opening fire. Among the other opponents were sheriff's and police associations, populated by Democrats and progressive leftists.
What's next? How did the states with 3C get their amendments/legislation passed? What should we be doing to get this moving? I know there is support among the population, but how to we get them motivated enough to do something about it?
Of course, for any bill, it must go through the criminal justice committee of our state. This is a group of representatives composed of equal parts Democrat and Republican, with an Independent. The first two years, the entire board voted against a constitutional amendment. This last year, in May, all but one Republican voted FOR it, but it was still less than a majority.
As usual, before the vote, people get to share their opinions and facts about the legislation. For 3C, people used the arguments that it doesn't effect anyone but law abiding citizens, such as the low income, who can't afford the license and all the fees that go along with it. Further, criminals don't care about the law, they'll conceal carry, regardless. All these arguments are 100% accurate and anyone that reads a newspaper, online article or isn't in a coma knows it.
On the other side of the argument, the star opinion came from a teacher who was shot in Lafayette, at the movie theater. Part of her testimony included something like this, '... and he applied for a concealed carry permit in Alabama, but was denied.' This is her justification for why we need concealed carry permits. She doesn't address the fact that, despite being denied a CC permit in Alabama, he still brought a concealed weapon into a movie theater, without a permit and shot 9 people; the denial of a CC permit did not stop him from carrying his firearm into the theater and opening fire. Among the other opponents were sheriff's and police associations, populated by Democrats and progressive leftists.
What's next? How did the states with 3C get their amendments/legislation passed? What should we be doing to get this moving? I know there is support among the population, but how to we get them motivated enough to do something about it?
