From The Reload:
The Pelican State will soon become the 28th to allow legal gun owners to carry concealed without a permit.
The Louisiana House of Representatives gave final approval to Senate Bill 1 after a 75-28 vote on Wednesday. The measure will allow anyone 18 and older who is eligible to own a handgun to carry it concealed in public without a permit. The bill now heads to the desk of Governor Jeff Landry (R.), who has pledged to sign it into law.
“While criminals carry guns without regard for the law, lawful gun owners are our most law-abiding citizens. Their armed presence helps deter violent crime,” Landry said at the onset of the special session. “It is time Louisiana joined 27 other states who have created a constitutional right to carry a firearm without the government’s permission. This body has repeatedly passed it. Now you have a governor who will sign it.”
Louisiana’s legislature passed permitless carry back in 2021, but the bill was vetoed by Governor Bel Edwards, a Democrat. Given how lopsided the tally was, one would have expected that veto to have been overridden, but that doesn’t happen in Louisiana as often as in other states. The election of Republican Jeff Landry to the governorship last year all-but guaranteed that Louisiana would become the 28th state to abolish its permitting system.
Louisiana is the last state in the region to alter its rules. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas already have permitless carry. As a matter of fact, it is now getting easier to identify the parts of the United States that do require permits than to point to those that don’t (the constitutional carry areas are in blue):
