The ranks of constitutional carry continue to grow as Louisiana recently became the 28th state to join.
“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,” 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.”
Constitutional carry reinforces Americans’ right to carry a firearm for self-defense by eliminating the requirement that law-abiding gun owners obtain a permit to carry. Those who wish to obtain a permit to carry, so they can carry in states that have reciprocity agreements with their state, still can get a permit. In addition, this bill does not change who is permitted to obtain a firearm.
NRA Interim EVP and CEO Andrew Arulanandam and NRA-ILA Executive Director Randy Kozuch joined Gov. Landry for the bill signing ceremony.
The Louisiana State Legislature previously passed constitutional carry legislation in 2021, which was supported by the NRA, but then-Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) vetoed the legislation. The Louisiana State Senate subsequently upheld Edwards’ veto by a vote of 23-15, despite previously voting 27-9 in favor of the bill.
While running to be governor last year, Landry promised to enact constitutional carry. “The current governor of this state [John Bel Edwards] has vetoed constitutional carry, but we’re going in and passing that,” Landry said at the time. “I support further strengthening the right of our citizens, their ability to exercise the Second Amendment of the constitution, and I will be focused on any way that we can strengthen that at the state level.”
Landry’s victory and signing of constitutional carry further illustrates the need to elect pro-freedom candidates who understand and value your constitutional rights.
This also illustrates the need to pass constitutional-carry legislation in states where governors will likely veto it. When states like Pennsylvania and Louisiana previously advanced constitutional carry, only for it to be struck down by the governor’s pen, it was not a total loss.
“It’s certainly still a victory, because, as we know, these are long-term things. A lot of positives come from this. Mainly, we have worked out the language of the bill, we understand where people had concerns, and we addressed them so that once Pennsylvania has a pro-Second Amendment governor, then we have everything ironed out,” said Darin Goens, NRA-ILA Pennsylvania state director, at the time.
Indeed, the news from Louisiana illustrates the benefit of such long-term planning in our fight for freedom.
As we’ve reported at America’s 1st Freedom, constitutional carry has been spreading rapidly over the past few years. Just last year, Florida and Nebraska passed constitutional carry, while in 2022 and 2021, four and five states did the same, respectively. This stands in stark contrast to just over two decades ago, when only one state, Vermont, had constitutional carry.
As of today, the 28 states with some form of constitutional carry 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.
