BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A Shreveport lawmaker's bid to require movie theaters across Louisiana to install metal detectors has been rejected by the House Criminal Justice Committee.
Rep. Barbara Norton, a Democrat, proposed a mandate that every theater-goer be scanned for weapons after a Lafayette movie theater shooting in July that left three people dead and nine wounded.
Lawmakers on the House committee voted 6-5 Wednesday to shelve Norton's bill. Rep. Tony Bacala, a Prairieville Republican, made the motion to reject the measure, saying he had several concerns including that metal detectors might create a "false sense of security."
Rep. Terry Landry, a New Iberia Democrat, successfully pushed an exemption for people with a concealed handgun permit. That wasn't enough to win support for the bill.