BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA — Remember when we brought up a few short weeks ago a quiet little Louisiana House Bill to allow victims of domestic violence to get a concealed carry permit faster? Well, apparently it’s picked up quite a head of steam in the Louisiana legislature — and we couldn’t be happier.
As ABC reports, House Bill 1155 would allow people who have an active restraining order against an individual to pursue a concealed carry permit without needing to undergo the training requirement that Louisiana normally mandates. This would allow people attempting to protect themselves from a clear and imminent threat to pursue a legally obtained permit faster.
Victims must be 21 years of age or older in order to qualify for this program and must have an active restraining order against another individual. For those escaping violent situations, this could be the expedited system that enables them to protect themselves faster than through the traditional method.
As we brought up last time, perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate why a training requirement is required prior to a concealed carry permit in the first place.
Mainly, the concealed carry course for most states serves to inform potential future applicants of their state’s laws, dispel common misconceptions, and usually there’s a firing component to reinforce gun safety and marksmanship.
No course presently offered in any of the states is truly sufficient to prepare someone to prevail in the event of a defensive gun use but as we’ve seen with the countless CCW IN ACTION stories we’ve posted, it’s all about maintaining the right mentality, situational awareness, and having the handgun ready.
According to the Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, they cited 63 incidents where 72 domestic homicides were committed in relation to an ongoing domestic violence case — just in 2015 alone.
People seeking protection will only get so far with a restraining order alone. As we’ve discussed in other feature stories, when restraining orders fail, sometimes bullets work.
