INDReporter

Gun bills locked and loaded at Legis

by Walter Pierce

Lawmakers in the Legislature have begun pre-filing bills aimed at heading off possible gun restrictions that might come down from Washington.

Lawmakers in the Legislature have begun pre-filing bills aimed at heading off possible gun restrictions that, although unlikely with a Republican-controlled U.S. House, might come down from Washington.

Rep. Jim Morris, R-Oil City, filed House Bill 5, which would somehow make any "federal laws, rules, regulations, or executive orders banning or restricting semi-automatic firearms" unenforceable in Louisiana. The bill also would prevent the state from enforcing a federal requirement that semi-automatic weapons and accessories by registered "in any manner." Just enjoy your damn guns! HB 5 prescribes up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine for any state official with the temerity to acknowledge such federal mandates, because although Louisiana sucks with insatiable vigor at Uncle Sam's hammy teat, we don't savor the milk.

Reps. Jeff Thompson, R-Bossier City, and House Speaker Chuck Kleckley, R-Lake Charles, have filed HB 8 prohibiting "the release of information contained in concealed handgun permit applications and the release of information regarding the identity of any person who applied for or received such a permit." The bill is likely in reaction to a newspaper in White Plains, NY, publishing the names and even mapping out the addresses of more than 33,000 local handgun permit holders following the Newtown, Conn., school massacre. The interactive article generated more than one million views on the paper's website and prompted a backlash against the newspaper by Second Amendment fetishists.

Two other bills pre-filed ahead of the two-month session that begins April 8 deal with the storage of firearms and permitting off-duty law enforcement officials to carry guns on school campuses.

See all the bills pre-filed in both the House and the Senate here.