By: Alyse Pfeil and Sophie Kasakove | nola.com | May 25, 2025
Less than a year after Louisiana agreed to let people conceal their weapons without a permit, state lawmakers are weighing whether to allow permitless concealed guns near schools and on parade routes, sparking fresh criticism in New Orleans.
Senate Bill 101, by state Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, would allow anyone legally permitted to carry a gun to tote their weapon up to a school’s property line. That includes people without permits. Another bill, House Bill 393, would allow guns at parades.
State Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, who championed last year’s permitless carry law, said his latest bill is aimed at ensuring consistency for gun owners.
“I want one set of rules that treats law-abiding citizens fairly, not… a patchwork of laws,” he said. “We never want a law-abiding citizen criminalized because of some complication in the law that they weren’t aware of.”
The proposals come after state and New Orleans officials last year clashed over the city’s efforts to establish a firearm-free school zone in the city’s French Quarter to skirt the state’s relaxation of gun regulations. Though that plan appears to have stalled, Miguez’s bill, which removes a long-held ban on firearms near schools, would prevent it from resurfacing.
They also come amid widespread local criticism of the state’s effort last year to allow people 18 or older to carry a gun in many public places, either openly or concealed. New Orleans Police Department leaders and Cantrell have said that the ban would impede police’s ability to keep crowds on parade routes safe.
The city “recognizes the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; however, the city does not agree with the idea that more guns on the street will necessarily make people safer,” said Leatrice Dupre, a spokesperson for Cantrell’s administration.
School firearm-free zones
At present, the law bans anyone from wielding a gun without a permit within 1,000 feet of a school.
Miguez’s SB 101 would remove that ban. Miguez said the changes were only fair.
“This allows individuals who are carrying, by constitutional carry, the same rights as those who carry with a permit within a thousand foot of a school zone,” he said. “It does not allow an individual any additional rights to carry on school property.”
But the rules would also stop New Orleans leaders from exploiting a loophole in current law. After their pleas for state lawmakers to exempt the French Quarter from the permitless carry law fell on deaf ears, City Council member Helena Moreno, NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick and District Attorney Jason Williams announced a plan to designate the New Orleans Police Department’s Eighth District station as a vocational technical school in order to create a gun-free zone in the 1,000-foot radius around it — including blocks bounded by Canal and Toulouse Street and a large stretch of Bourbon Street.
That plan quickly hit roadblocks when Attorney General Liz Murrill derided the city’s designation as “clearly not legal or effective” and warned that the city could face civil rights lawsuits if it arrested people based on it.
But Miguez also promised to reverse officials’ efforts to create a gun-free zone in the French Quarter if they were successful. His bill appears to be a way to preempt any future attempts.
“The message is very clear to the locals in New Orleans that don’t necessarily respect individuals’ Second Amendment rights: that it’s going to be a losing battle,” Miguez said in September. “We’ll strengthen that law to close any gaps. That’s not something, if I were them, I would be wasting my time on.”
In Lafayette, a similar attempt to seek the designation around The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s downtown science museum, on property owned by the parish government, failed amid pushback from Murrill and Miguez in August. The university instead designated the museum as a weapons-free facility.
Karen Boudrie, an NOPD spokeperson, declined to comment on this year’s proposed legislation. It is unclear whether any local New Orleans officials made efforts to push for gun restrictions during the current legislative session.
But Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission in New Orleans, said that the proposals to roll back restrictions in all school zones pose a major safety threat.
“For every one example of a firearm preventing a crime from occurring there are going to be multiple examples of a bad outcome with a firearm in those areas — that’s why those laws were passed,” said Goyeneche. “It’s really commonsensical and it’s really a fundamental public safety issue.”
Guns at parades
Louisiana law includes a list of several places into which “no concealed handgun may be carried.” Among those are parades and demonstrations being held with a government permit.
The language has led to conflict over whether it’s against the law for parade spectators to carry firearms or whether the law is a prohibition directed at people directly participating in parades.
Rep. Dennis Bamburg Jr., R-Bossier City, said his HB 393 would address that confusion.
“This is a badly needed cleanup bill,” he said of House Bill 393 during a public hearing on the measure. “It just basically clarifies in law that you cannot carry if you’re an active participant in a parade or a demonstration, but this shall not apply to a bystander or spectator who attends a parade.”
But Rep. Alonzo Knox, D-New Orleans, questioned the logic of the law.
“It seems backwards to me,” Knox said. “In all transparency, I would want to carry a gun if I’m riding in a float rather than being defenseless to a bystander at a parade who can carry a gun. That’s where I’m confused.”
Over the years, a number of attempts have been made to ban firearms at parades, including 2009 legislation to ban guns within 1,000 feet of a parade, which was vetoed by then-Gov. Bobby Jindal at the request of the NRA.
Last year a bill sponsored by Rep. Mandie Landry, D-New Orleans, would have specifically outlawed carrying a gun along parade routes without a concealed carry permit, but the proposal stalled in the Legislature.
Bobby Hjortsberg, captain of the Krewe of Freret, said he believes it would be a major risk to allow guns on parade routes.
“Considering those people are under the influence, it’s just not an environment for someone to have a gun,” said Hjortsberg. He also questioned the logic of distinguishing between paradegoers and participants.
“I can’t understand why they would try to distinguish those kinds of things– that’s basically saying the people who are in charge aren’t allowed to be armed and the people who are attending can?” he said.
Carrying a concealed firearm while intoxicated is illegal under state law.