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Open Carry in Lafayette?

marteney1

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Dec 9, 2007
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Hi, I spend my Winter breaks in Lafayette, LA, selling fireworks. This leads to me being in a tent by myself for roughly 15 hours a day. I was robbed last year, and am considering beginning to OC this year. Being from Kansas, and relatively new to the firearm scene (working on that this winter), I was curious about Open Carry laws.

I've been reading around here, and saw that the legal age to OC in LA is 17. I'm 20, so this isn't a problem. I can't seem to find anything regarding any licensing issues for OC. Do any of the states require licenses for OC'ing? I plan to get my CCW this summer when I turn 21 so I can conceal a weapon (so as not to scare away potential customers to my tent), but that doesn't do me any good this year. Any help would be much appreciated.

I'm from Kansas, but spend most of my time attending school in Missouri. I heard that a CCW from Florida was the way to go. Does anyone have any information on this or possibly a link to where I could get information for this when I turn 21?

Thanks a lot for any help you guys could provide.
 
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Welcome to the POLICE STATE of Louisiana !!!! Being robbed didn't surprise me. There is no license required to open carry. Most south Louisianians are accustomed to seeing sidearms, I doubt anyone around Lafayette would flinch at the sight of you being armed. Being at/in your place of business, the cops certainly wouldn't bother you, either.
 

kemosabi

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its up the the local authorities...I do not believe Lafayette has a O.C. law.....The state says yes but its up to the local authorities..I w/call the sherriff or Leo...
 

aroundlsu

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I have never heard of a parish with a local ordinance restricting open carry. Can you pin point one ordinance in one parish?

Also, "local authorities" don't have the authority to just come up with laws. It would have to be passed by the city council as an ordinance and would be public record.
 

charlie12

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Sep 7, 2007
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Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
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kemosabi wrote:
its up the the local authorities...I do not believe Lafayette has a O.C. law.....The state says yes but its up to the local authorities..I w/call the sherriff or Leo...

Who is telling you all that bull?

Mark tell him the real deal.
 

marteney1

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Not that it matters much anymore (won't be going back to Louisiana for a long time), but I got ahold of the sherriffs in all the parishes I was going to be in (almost no time in city limits) and they all okay'ed it. The only thing they said was to be respectfulof an officer'srequest for me to remove it.

Thanks for everyone's help!
Drew
 

cajun_airborne

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kemosabi wrote:
its up the the local authorities...I do not believe Lafayette has a O.C. law.....The state says yes but its up to the local authorities..I w/call the sherriff or Leo...

It is the opinion of this office that the state statutes aforementioned have
the purpose of establishing a general scheme to control weapons (handguns) and
that a fair reading of those statutes show this would constitute an area in
which the state has pre‑empted the legislative control and has implicitly
authorized the carrying of unconcealed weapons.
Therefore, an ordinance enacted by a Parish and/or Municipality requlating
the carrying of exposed handguns would be without effect as being in conflict
with State Law.




That is cut and dry to me....

hope it helps..
 

charlie12

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Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
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cajun_airborne wrote:
kemosabi wrote:
its up the the local authorities...I do not believe Lafayette has a O.C. law.....The state says yes but its up to the local authorities..I w/call the sherriff or Leo...

It is the opinion of this office that the state statutes aforementioned have
the purpose of establishing a general scheme to control weapons (handguns) and
that a fair reading of those statutes show this would constitute an area in
which the state has pre‑empted the legislative control and has implicitly
authorized the carrying of unconcealed weapons.
Therefore, an ordinance enacted by a Parish and/or Municipality requlating
the carrying of exposed handguns would be without effect as being in conflict
with State Law.




That is cut and dry to me....

hope it helps..
Thanks Cajun that's what I thought.
 

kemosabi

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Ive talked to several differant policemen in thje last couple days asking them what the deal was on it..They all stated that local laws [city] govern over state lawson this matter and that when they are off duty they cannot carry open carry....If they want to carry it must be concealed....This was told to me today by a Sherriffs office detective,..he said he c/not carry open, why w/they let anyone else......

Please understand im trying to get the correct info in writing to correctly point my students in the right direction on the laws.Thats why we read from the state laws book in class and do not get to far into our opinions...
Its perfectly legal for a La. resident to carry openly and not concealed...That is the law,. I got my Range officer certification this weekend and the lady who gave it to me was a watch commander in Baton Rouge for 30 years,When i asked her about the open carry in Baton Rouge she said if she sees someone w/a gun she w/certainly want to see a permit,..I told her about the state law and she said she was aware of that but in Baton Rouge city limits its unlawful and you must have a permit.....

I will call the D.A office Monday to see if i can get something in writing w/a current date on it for my files......The reason i brought it up here i was hoping someone has had a situation in my area with this and c/give me some insight on what took place and the results.....In the louisiana Law book it does say La is a open carry state...I really think they forgot to tell the locals if thats the case,lol......Thanks for those who have tried to help...

Kemo
 

WhiteRabbit22

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They are wrong, it's called preemption, every state has preemtion of some sort, and local authorities cannot deny a right given by both the Constitution ANd the state law.
 

charlie12

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Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
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kemosabi wrote:
Ive talked to several differant policemen in thje last couple days asking them what the deal was on it..They all stated that local laws [city] govern over state lawson this matter and that when they are off duty they cannot carry open carry....If they want to carry it must be concealed....This was told to me today by a Sherriffs office detective,..he said he c/not carry open, why w/they let anyone else......

Please understand im trying to get the correct info in writing to correctly point my students in the right direction on the laws.Thats why we read from the state laws book in class and do not get to far into our opinions...
Its perfectly legal for a La. resident to carry openly and not concealed...That is the law,. I got my Range officer certification this weekend and the lady who gave it to me was a watch commander in Baton Rouge for 30 years,When i asked her about the open carry in Baton Rouge she said if she sees someone w/a gun she w/certainly want to see a permit,..I told her about the state law and she said she was aware of that but in Baton Rouge city limits its unlawful and you must have a permit.....

I will call the D.A office Monday to see if i can get something in writing w/a current date on it for my files......The reason i brought it up here i was hoping someone has had a situation in my area with this and c/give me some insight on what took place and the results.....In the louisiana Law book it does say La is a open carry state...I really think they forgot to tell the locals if thats the case,lol......Thanks for those who have tried to help...

Kemo

Never ask a LEO a legal question, most don't know the law ask Mark what they know about it.

What is a watch commander in the BRPD I've never heard of such, and my cousin was the Chief. What was her rank?

So why would she ask a person carrying open for a permit. My permit say Concealed Handgun Permit.

In my 55 yrs. of being in this Parish I've never heard of any of this.

And then this.

"This was told to me today by a Sherriffs office detective,..he said he c/not carry open, why w/they let anyone"

Maybe the Sheriff told him he can't carry off duty and not the state. And as for why w/they let anyone? Because it the State Law.
 

WhiteRabbit22

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WhiteRabbit22 wrote:
They are wrong, it's called preemption, every state has preemtion of some sort, and local authorities cannot deny a right given by both the Constitution ANd the state law.

*Protected, not give, my bad



Had to correct myself on that one!
 

kemosabi

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Jan 23, 2008
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Yall are right,Bo dont know Diddley !!!,lol....They havent a clue.....I spoke w/a 30 year veteran shift commander about it,said he w/definatlety want to know what a citizen was doing carrying a gun,better have a good reason or a permit,he said in Baton Rouge there is no open carry,I left it at that......I was told by the DA that its perfectly legal as long as the adult is of 21 years old,is not a felon or in the last 5 years had a felony arrest,and that they do not carry in church's.police station or state capital building,school zone,court house ect.....Asked about the parade law also...They said its fine to carry as long as they didnt file a motion for no firearms on parade route,i guess like when the pres. came in a while back and had a lil parade.....
Its really depressing to see that most of our police really do not know the law and actually give those people a hard time for carrying,i didnt realize there was so much lack of knowledge on the subject........The Da is supposed to send me written documentation of all of this for future referance iI was told.....Im waiting by the milbox on this one,LOL>...I think ill be there a while.....
 
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