Anyone here on the board in LA.?  I am currently in Alabama.  Any interesting gun laws I should know about.  Moving to Ruston, LA.

I'm from Louisiana and work in Alabama. I currently live in Tennessee. Concealed carry in Louisiana is available. You have to apply and go through a course unless you are a veteran or ex-law enforcement. I'm not sure if it still applies but you used to be able to open carry without a permit when I was a kid. It wasn't recommended. You can own anything that you can afford. There isn't any laws against semi auto matics. North louisiana is nice and rural. Good luck.

Ruston is a nice, sleepy small college town, La Tech!  Good school.

Unlike Alabama, you can carry your loaded or unloaded weapon in your car any damn way you want... under the seat, in the glovebox, on the seat, it does not matter.  Due to a court ruling (the "Pearl River case") your "automobile is an extension of your domacile" and your ability to have a weapon handy is the same there.  Also, they have the "shoot the carjacker" law, which clearly sides with the carowner in such cases.  Carjackings have since fallen to zero.  A former Miss Lousiana successfully repelled invaders with her pistol in one famous news story.

Yes, they have CCW, and the usual BS that goes along with getting a CCW.

Louisiana constitution restates the 2nd amendment, but adds something to the effect, "this does not preclude passage of laws intended to prevent concealed carrying of weapons".  I paraphrase here.

Under La. law, as in many other states, a weapon illegal under Federal law is illegal under La. law.

Technically, you can carry a weapon on your person in a holster on your hip.  The holster can even have a flap covering the pistol. A weapon is considered concealed only if it is covered/hidden by clothing.  But the reality is, if you walk down mainstreet with a pistol in a holster, they will arrest you for "disturbing the peace" even if no one complained about you.

So, they can't arrest you for BS reasons like, well, "I could not see the side of the gun laying on the seat, so that side was concealed".   Concealed does not apply to a gun in your car,  no matter where it is (see above).  And only if covered by your clothing.

Knives with blades over 3" are considered weapons, not pocket knives.  But fishermen and hunters, other workers need such knives.  So, you will see people with a knife holster on their belts in plain view.  Completely legal, even if you cannot see the knife itself, as the holster is in view.  Ditto the weapon.

Gov. Mike Foster is the most pro-gun governor Louisiana has had in quite a while.  He likes to ride his motorcycle, go hunting and fishing.  A guy who had a real job before office, not a lawyer.

I have carefully studied the laws of the southern states in this regard, as well as inquired as to actuall application of the laws (such as open carry), as I travel quite a bit.  It helps to know your rights.

Enjoy those Ruston peaches, man...  some of the you'll ever have in your life...

the_reject

Ruston...I spent a week there one night...cool
you will be closer to the north texas bunch...

bumping it up. Anyone else?

Free man said it all pretty much. LA is one of the freest and gun friendliest states out there. They have common sense laws meant to give decent folks the best chance to defend what's theirs and to stop scumbags. If every state had LA's carjacker laws you would see a precipitous decline in that sort of violence. It is also a banana republic in a lot of ways. Cultivate police or city atty friends if possible so you can get out of tickets, etc. I miss home.

Got in-laws up the road in Monroe.  Good folks live around there.  Brother-in-Law owns a trucking operation running 600+ rigs.

Hope you like to hunt whitetails, turkey and ducks.  Pick-ups with an ATV in the back are a way of life there.

Over in Rayville they have the annual "Cotton Festival" better known as The Southern Pickin' and Ginnin' Festival.  Lots of blues and bluegrass music.

Lots of nightlife down on the river in Monroe if Ruston's not up to speed.  Go the other way and Shreveport/Bossier has casinos and Louisiana Downs.

Food's pretty good there.  It's not Cajun but Nort' Louisiana cooking is good.  Again if you're in Monroe go to Larry Cormier's place for crawfish and fixin's and fried turkey.  It's an old gas station with great food.  Larry has Johnny O'Neal stop by to play live music for special days.

Never hooked-up with AR folks there but IPSC occaisionally has shoots in Shreveport.

Edited to add in the spring you can drive a couple hours south for the Crawfish Festival in Breau Bridge and the Etouffee Festival in Eunice.

I grew up in South Alabama, right outside Dothan.  I spent most of my free time (when I wasn't playing sports) trapping and coon hunting.  Did a little deer hunting here and there.  Now that I'm leaving Auburn, work carries my wife and I to Ruston.  We have flown to Monroe and then down to Ruston, looking for a house.  I like the town, it's very nice.  I'm hoping I'll fit right in. Hell, I thought South AL. was rural! Didn't see much outside the town.  Thanks for all the replies.  I will step up to a peach and try one when I get the chance.  I saw a lot of orchards!  I wonder if I can find someone who I can coon hunt with?  We'll see.

Thanks again!

YES! When eating dead mudbugs (crawfish) never eat the ones that were dead when they were cooked![:D] Stock up on Community Coffee (DARK roast) and buy a Budreaux and Tibideaux album and enjoy! Watch out for the really beautiful women at the Marti-Gra!(They don't squat to pee![stick])

Arock.....what's the brother in laws name.....ya got any kin in Winnsboro...born on main street,rogers clinic......

Vernon Sawyer.  He actually sold his operation to KLLM over in Jackson a couple years ago for major $$.  Now his wife's COO of KLLM.   Vernon bought a lot of land around Monroe and Bastrop and farms when he's not at one of his other places in Jackson and Missouri.

BTW when Vernon started his trucking operation his wife drove a hot pink 18-wheel rig and my wife lived with them in a trailer on the truckyard.  They made a huge success of their business as you see their trucks everyday even around here.  He has such a good name in the business KLLM chose to keep his name on the trucks.

Back in the 1970's Paul Harvey used to talk about his wife and her hot-pink 18-wheel rig driving all over the country.  She's really good at the business too.  That's why she's head of operations at KLLM.

I'll check on the Winnsboro connection.  My wife's father was an MD in Monroe but had moved his family to Fort Stockton, Texas before she was born.

One other thing. The US has one of the highest, iof not the highest, rates of obesity in the world. LA has the highest rate of obesity in the nation. There is a very good reason for this. You lucky man. I am stuck in CT. Damn Yankees could burn ice cream putting it in the cone.