BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana would strip the requirement that gun owners must have a permit to carry concealed firearms, under a bill that started advancing Monday in the state Senate in contrast to a national debate over whether to tighten gun restrictions.
A Senate judiciary committee narrowly backed the proposal by Sen. Jay Morris, a Monroe Republican. The 3-2 vote sending the bill to the full Senate fell along party lines, with Republicans supporting the measure while Democrats opposed it.
“The bill does not make it easier to buy guns,” Morris said. “This is a bill for law-abiding citizens.”
