Louisiana State Police Tried to Pull the Justice Department Into a Concealed Carry Lawsuit. The Judge Said No, and the Case Stays Pointed at the State.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

LAFAYETTE, LA — A federal judge has turned down a request from Louisiana State Police Superintendent Frank Besson to certify questions about the constitutionality of the federal Gun-Free School Zones Act to the United States attorney general, leaving the federal school zone law outside a lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s concealed carry scheme.

Judge David C. Joseph of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued the decision on August 21, as reported by Bloomberg Law. The plaintiffs suing over Louisiana’s concealed carry rules are not challenging the federal law and are not asking the court to block its enforcement, Joseph said.

Note who asked for what. The request to bring in the U.S. attorney general came from the state side, from Besson, the head of the Louisiana State Police. It did not come from the people suing over the state’s carry rules.

Here is what certification means. If people in a lawsuit argue that a federal law is unconstitutional, and the federal government is not part of that lawsuit, the judge is supposed to tell the U.S. attorney general so Justice Department lawyers can show up and defend their own law. Besson asked the judge to send that notice about the Gun-Free School Zones Act. The judge said no.

That does not mean the federal school zone law passed a test. The judge did not decide whether it is constitutional. He said the people suing are not going after the federal law at all, so there was nothing for the Justice Department to come in and defend.

For gun owners, this is a small win, and I want to be precise about how small. Nobody gained a right here. What happened is that the state tried to widen the case, and the judge kept it narrow. Justice Department lawyers are not joining the fight, the federal school zone law is not on the table, and the lawsuit stays aimed where the plaintiffs aimed it, at Louisiana’s own concealed carry rules. A case that stays narrow moves faster and is harder to bury under a second constitutional argument nobody in it raised.

The 1,000-foot federal school zone rule is no abstraction for anyone who carries in Louisiana. The Second Amendment Foundation’s Lee Williams reported on how New Orleans officials redesignated the Eighth District police station, sitting in the middle of the French Quarter, as a vocational technical school, which made everything within 1,000 feet of it a gun-free zone, including more than five blocks of Bourbon Street. No classes were planned for civilian students. The zone came off the city’s online zoning map after Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill met with NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick, District Attorney Jason Williams and Councilwoman Helena Moreno.

More from USA Carry:

Dan Zelenka, president of the Louisiana Shooting Association and a board member of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, told SAF the map change mattered because the map is a requirement to prosecute under the school zone. He also told SAF he expects the city to try again, possibly by partnering with a real school that would hold classes at the station. Where a “school” gets drawn on a map is what decides where a lawful carrier becomes a defendant, which is why a procedural fight like this one is worth reading closely. If you carry in the state, I keep the permit and carry rules together on my Louisiana concealed carry page.

The underlying challenge to Louisiana’s concealed carry scheme is still live, and no court has ruled on the merits of it. I will continue tracking the case as it moves through the Western District of Louisiana.