Louisiana no-permit gun bill changed to allow armed teachers

NEW ORLEANS — Invoking the mass shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers last week at a Texas elementary school, a panel of Louisiana legislators has converted a bill that would allow people to carry concealed guns without a permit into one allowing trained teachers to carry guns on public school campuses.

Until the shooting in Uvalde, Rep. Danny McCormick’s House-passed bill doing away with the need for concealed-carry permits appeared to be on track for passage in the Senate — and a likely veto from Gov. John Bel Edwards, who rejected similar legislation last year.

But Uvalde appears to have changed the bill’s trajectory. The Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee considered the bill Wednesday night in Baton Rouge — as one member noted that news was breaking of a mass shooting in Oklahoma. Two senators cited surveys of residents indicating opposition to allowing concealed weapons without mandatory training and permits.

Then, state Sen. Eddie Lambert, a Republican from Gonzales, offered the amendment allowing an elementary or secondary school to allow designated volunteers from among its teachers and administrators, to undergo police-style training to carry concealed weapons on campus and serve as “school protection officers.”

Lambert’s amendment removed McCormick’s original no-permit language. “Why can’t we do both?” asked Sen. Jay Morris, a West Monroe Republican, who authored the bill vetoed last year by Edwards.

“You’re right, but we’re going to talk about realities in politics right now,” said Lambert, who didn’t want the two controversial issues tied together. “Rep. McCormick can always bring the bill next year.”