Another gun restriction is expected to come up later this month.
The Louisiana Senate voted 21-9 Tuesday (April 10) to kill a bill that would have prevented people from purchasing assault weapons in the state until they are 21 years old. Louisiana allows anyone to purchase any type of gun once they reach age 18.
Senate Bill 274, sponsored by Sen. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, would have allowed anyone 18 or older to continue using assault weapons for target practice or for hunting, and they could have still purchased handguns and hunting rifles.
Carter said he brought his proposal forward in response to school shootings, particularly February’s attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz used an assault weapon to kill 17 people.
Federal law prohibits licensed gun dealers from selling handguns to someone under 21, but anyone in Louisiana who is at least 18 years old can purchase any type of weapon through an unlicensed private seller, at a gun show or over the internet. Carter’s bill would have barred people under 21 from purchasing assault weapons from anyone — licensed dealer or otherwise.
The National Rifle Association and other gun rights advocates opposed the bill. The groups said the legislation violated the rights of young people who can use an assault weapon as a member of the military, but would not be able to own one themselves.
Efforts to restrict gun ownership and access in Louisiana have historically faced an uphill battle in the Capitol, so it came as a surprise that Carter’s bill got out of committee last week. Over the past few days, gun rights advocates have targeted Sen. Fred Mills, R-Breaux Bridge, who voted with Democrats to get the legislation out of the Senate committee.
The day after Carter’s legislation advanced, advertisements against Mills started running in his home district. They urged people to boycott his businesses because of his vote. When the bill got to the Senate floor Tuesday, Mills joined the majority of his colleagues and voted against the very same legislation he had supported last week.
Yet the legislation had powerful advocates as well. New Orleans Police Superintendent Michael Harrison traveled to Baton Rouge to testify in support of it. Robert Tasman, representing the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops, also spoke in favor of the legislation.
Harrison said easy access to assault weapons for young people makes New Orleans less safe. He attributes many shootings in the city to assault weapons, which fire faster than a handgun or hunting rifle. In his four years as head of the NOPD, Harrison said he has never seen a case where an assault rifle has been used to defend a person, their family or home.
Senate Bill 274 isn’t the only gun restriction that Carter is pushing. The Senate Judiciary B Committee has sent Senate Bill 491 to the Senate that would ban so-called bump stocks, which turn non-automatic guns into automatic weapons. Stephen Paddock, the shooter who killed 58 people during an outdoor Las Vegas concert last fall, used a bump stock to convert his gun into an automatic weapon. That bill, also sponsored by Carter, has not been scheduled for a full vote in the Senate yet.
President Donald Trump wants to ban the sale of bump stocks through the Department of Justice.
