A large majority of Louisiana voters believe Gov. Jeff Landry and state lawmakers went too far this year in passing a law to allow people 18 or older to carry concealed firearms without a permit, according to a new statewide poll conducted for The Times-Picayune | The Advocate.
Support for a return to requiring permits to carry concealed guns in Louisiana ran across political, racial and gender lines.
A third of those polled said the new permitless law that takes effect in July should remain “as is,” while 63% said people should have to get permits to conceal firearms. That 63% support was identical in South Louisiana and in North and Central Louisiana.
The question was asked in a wide-ranging poll of 800 voters around the state. The poll was conducted by Faucheux Strategies, primarily by cell phone, from April 22-26. It has a margin of error below 3.5%.
Other than the question on permitless concealed carry, the poll showed broad support for Landry's crime agenda. The new governor ordered the GOP-led Legislature into a special crime session in February, and helped usher through a series of tough new laws, including lowering the age to 17 at which juveniles are considered adults. Lawmakers also got rid of the requirement that those carrying concealed weapons get a state permit.
Overall, 50% of those polled approved of Landry's handling of crime, compared to 27% who disapproved.
But that didn't extend to the concealed-carry question, the poll shows. Among those who favor permits: slightly over half of Republicans, almost two-thirds of independents and nearly three in four Democrats. Voters described as “rock-solid Trump Republicans” show the strongest support for the new permitless carry law; just 43% of them favor permits, compared to 64% of “less-reliable Trump Republicans.”
Women support permits at a 70% clip, compared to 55% for men.
The results come as the Legislature continues to beat back attempts by New Orleans-area lawmakers to carve out the French Quarter and other heavy tourism areas in the city from the new law, which takes effect on July 4.
New Orleans-area business groups have joined New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick and other city officials who have argued it will hamstring police. Gun-rights advocates say police have other laws at their disposal, and they’ve argued that gun-free zones or carveouts chip away at “constitutional carry.” A majority of states have now enacted permitless concealed carry laws.
Retired schoolteacher Lily Mayfield, 79, of Calhoun, in Ouachita Parish, doesn't like the idea.
“They need to have a permit,” said Mayfield, who participated in the poll. “We got some wild and crazy people out there who don’t care about nobody’s life, and they need to be held accountable.”
Black voters like Mayfield, a Democrat, favor requiring permits with 70% support, compared to 60% for White voters.
Kevin Williams, 67, a retired federal bank regulator who is also Black, fears the worst without permits, particularly in New Orleans, where he lives.
“I think it’s going to have a dramatic increase in shootings and murders and mass killings and everything down here,” Williams said. “Young people are irresponsible in terms of handling weapons.”
Williams, a Democrat, argued that “maybe the politicians aren’t doing what the people want. They’re trying to please the new governor, and he’s moving too fast with all these changes.”
Shreveport youth pastor Brian Petree, a Republican who is White, was in the minority on the gun question, saying he’s “fine with the law as is, with no permit needed.”
Petree, 32, didn’t grow up around guns in Tennessee, and “it’s not like I’m advocating for my own right. I have one 9mm handgun my father bought me. I keep it in a safe,” he said. “I’m just coming from common sense. If somebody is going to kill somebody, they’ve already decided they are going to break a law.”
The argument that 18 is too young to carry around a concealed gun without a permit doesn’t wash with Petree.
“If they can’t think straight enough to hold a gun, why can they think straight enough to join the military or vote?” he asked.
Charles Songy, 45, a high-school counselor in Carencro and registered Republican, takes a different view, likening the required training that comes with a permit to driver training.
“That’s a big responsibility, carrying a gun,” said Songy, who is White. "I’m all for people being able to own guns. I think making it less stringent to carry guns, which can kill people, I don’t think that’s a great idea.”
Correction: Poll participant Brian Petree's first name has been corrected in this story.
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How the poll was conducted
Faucheux Strategies, a nonpartisan research firm based in Louisiana, interviewed a representative sample of 800 registered voters across Louisiana between April 22-26.
Trained professionals conducted the interviews by telephone; 79% of them were contacted on cell phones and 21% on landlines.
The calls were based on a scientifically selected, random sample of state voters. The racial composition of the sample was 64% White, 30% Black and 6% other. For this poll, “independent” includes people who have no party affiliation and people who are affiliated with a third party. The poll’s margin of error is +/- 3.46%.
