Jindal touts new gun laws

The News Star – by Greg Hilburn

Gov. Bobby Jindal knows few things are more popular in northeastern Louisiana’s gun country than the Second Amendment.

So Jindal chose TP Outdoors’ West Monroe store as the location to sign six gun-related bills Wednesday afternoon, surrounded by legislators and walls of firearms on the second stop on his post-Legislative session 64-parish tour.  

“We’re here to celebrate our Sportsman’s Paradise and to support the Second Amendment and American values,” the second-term Republican governor said.

Jindal and the legislators, led by Second Amendment champion Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, touted seven bills they said will fortify federal protection of gun owners’ rights.

Among the bills was Riser’s instrument that creates a standardized reporting procedure to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System of criminals or the mentally impaired who can’t have guns and an avenue for people to regain their gun rights.

Last year Riser became a hero among Second Amendment advocates such as the National Rifle Association when voters approved his state constitutional amendment designed to go beyond federal rights.

“It’s considered the strongest interpretation of the Second Amendment of any other state in the nation,” Riser said Wednesday.

Jindal called it “our own Second Amendment.”

Other bills signed Wednesday will authorize sheriffs issue concealed handgun permits to residents of other parishes if they have agreements with the other parishes’ sheriffs, allow off-duty law enforcement officials to carry weapons on school grounds and prevent agencies from revealing the names of those who have concealed carry permits.

Another Riser bill allows voter registration at firearms retailers.

“Today is a great day not just for our state, but for law-abiding gun owners across Louisiana,” Jindal said. “We’re signing new laws relating to gun ownership and our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.”

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201306192204/NEWS01/306190042

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