By National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action
Fairfax, Va. – The Louisiana Senate has passed Senate Bill 303, a constitutional amendment protecting the right to keep and bear arms, by a 34 to 4 vote. This bill passed in the state House by a 77 to 22 vote last week and will now be placed on the ballot in November for voters to ratify. If approved by voters, it will be the most cogent and comprehensive pro-Second Amendment state constitutional amendment in the nation. Forty-four states have provisions in their constitutions protecting the right to keep and bear arms.
“There’s no stronger pro-Second Amendment Governor in the country than Governor Bobby Jindal and NRA is truly grateful for his leadership in ensuring passage and preserving the potency of this substantive constitutional amendment, said Chris W. Cox, executive director of NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “No other state has passed a right to keep and bear arms constitutional amendment as strong as Louisiana’s. This is a major step forward toward the critical defense against any future effort to infringe on a Louisianan’s right to keep and bear arms.”
Ever since the Louisiana Supreme Court gutted the current right to keep and bear arms provision in 2001, Louisianans have had little protection from overreaching state-imposed gun control or in the event the landmark Helleror McDonald cases are overturned. In fact, the current Louisiana provision has been so weakened by the state court that it would likely only prevent a complete across-the-board ban on firearms.
Senate Bill 303 improves the current provision in the state constitution and provides Louisianans the strongest and most comprehensive constitutional language of any state, guaranteeing the right to keep and bear arms in Louisiana for future generations.
“The NRA would also like to thank state Senator Neil Riser and state Representative Christopher Broadwater for their tireless leadership efforts in support of this amendment and for their resolute efforts in ensuring broad bi-partisan support for this measure in the Legislature,” Cox concluded.