And Then There Were 28: Louisiana Becomes Most Recent State to Pass Constitutional-Carry Law

On Tuesday, Louisiana became the 28th state to pass legislation allowing the carry of handguns without a permit, often referred to as "constitutional carry." The law, originally Louisiana Senate Bill 1, was signed into law by Governor Jeff Landry.

"Today, we join 27 other states in passing Constitutional Carry. I promised the folks of Louisiana that I would champion Constitutional Carry into law, and within two months, I have honored that commitment," Republican Gov. Jeff Landry told Fox News Digital.
"It's fundamentally clear — law-abiding citizens should never have to seek government permission to safeguard themselves and their families. Today, we have secured an incredible victory for liberty in Louisiana. I want to thank Louisiana’s NRA members for their great work."
Landry signed the NRA-backed Senate Bill 1 into law Tuesday, which allows eligible residents 18 and older to carry a concealed handgun without a permit.

While the usual suspects will doubtless start clutching pearls and hand-wringing over this new law, the 27 previous states to have passed these permitless carry laws — including my own Alaska — have managed to survive without mayhem and piles of corpses in the streets. Most recently, in Ohio, which passed a similar permitless carry law in 2022, crimes committed with firearms have declined in six of that state's major metropolitan areas.

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Constitutional carry was a campaign promise Governor Landy made during his gubernatorial bid, arguing that, along with some of his other intended policies, it would help reduce Louisiana's, and particularly New Orleans' rising crime rates. As of the day he signed this bill into law, he had been in office for 57 days.

Violent crime skyrocketed in Louisiana’s top tourist city of New Orleans, for example, in 2022, when the city recorded a homicide rate of 70 per 100,000 people. Violent crimes have since dropped in the city.
Landry, who was sworn in as governor just this year, has urged the passage of tough-on-crime policies to further drive down crime in the state, and he vowed on the campaign trail last year to pass constitutional carry if elected governor.

Louisiana had already allowed open carry, the unconcealed carry of a sidearm by residents legally allowed to own a firearm. While open carry laws have a longer history than laws allowing permitless concealed carry, it's arguable that concealed carry, whether or not it requires a permit, has a greater preventive effect on violent crime than open carry. While a person carrying openly, in the event of a shooting or other event, may be seen to be wearing, effectively, a "shoot me first" sign, the concealed carrier is more likely to escape initial detection and possibly engage the malefactor if necessary; not knowing who may or may not be armed is likely to have a deterrent effect on would-be criminals as well.

The states that are now on the permitless carry bandwagon are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming. South Carolina is reportedly considering similar legislation, which would make the Palmetto State the 29th constitutional carry state.

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