Trump calls for arming teachers at NRA convention
Former President Donald Trump vowed to defend gun-owners rights in a speech at the National Rifle Association Convention Friday, pledging to create a new tax credit to reimburse teachers “for the full cost of a concealed-carry firearm.” (April 14)
AP
The Louisiana state representative who’s signature issue is expanding gun rights by allowing adults to carry concealed firearms without a permit or training is raising money for his reelection campaign by raffling off a 9mm pistol.
Republican Oil City Rep. Danny McCormick if he has his way the winner of the raffle will be able to conceal carry by the end of next summer if voters send McCormick back to the Legislature.
“It’s not just a signature issue for me by for my constituents,” McCormick said. “I live in a rural district and my people like raffles and they like guns.”
McCormick carried his concealed carry expansion bill each of his four years in the House, but it has stalled in the Senate.
His said his bill would “restore Second Amendment rights in Louisiana.”
“There’s nothing more unjust that to make citizens pay for a right they already have,” McCormick repeated this week.
McCormick said he has raffled off guns in the past, each time raising thousands of dollars.
The tickets are $10 for a $699.99 Sig P365 Macro pistol that is advertised as “what a concealed carry pistol should be.”
Supporters of McCormick’s legislation refer to it as “constitutional carry” because they believe the Second Amendment already grants that right.
“With your help we will make Constitutional Carry the Law in 2024,” McCormick said in his email to supporters.
“It puts law-abiding citizens on equal footing with criminals,” Kelby Seanor of the National Rifle Association said during a hearing this summer on McCormick’s bill. “It removes the burden to exercise a constitutional right.”
In advertising the raffle, McCormick says: “The Second Amendment is my gun permit. Issue Date: 12/15/1791. Expiration date: none.”
Louisiana is already an “open carry” state, which means people can carry visible firearms without a permit or training.
Twenty-seven states already permit a form of concealed carry, including all of Louisiana’s neighbors. Louisiana still requires permits and training to carry concealed guns.
Fabian Blache with the Louisiana Chiefs of Police called the bill “ill-conceived,” and said it “would pose a danger for the community and police officers.”
But McCormick said expanding concealed carry “won’t turn Louisiana into the wild, wild West.”
“I’m not scared of law-abiding citizens exercising their constitutional carry rights,” McCormick said.
McCormick said the bill is particularly important to him because he wants his four granddaughters ages 10, 2 and twin 6-year-olds to be able to protect themselves as adults.
He will qualify for reelection week.
McCormick emphasized the winner must complete all of the legal requirements, including a background check, when he or she takes possession of the gun from the retailer.
More: Here’s why Louisiana adults won’t be able to carry a concealed handgun without permit
Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1.