On August 1, honorably discharged veterans, national guard members, and active duty personnel stationed in Louisiana will no longer have to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

The change has been welcomed by many members of the firearms community, but one local instructor said that the new law may have a bigger learning curve than some expect.

Caleb Morse owns The Rustic Renegade in Lafayette, Louisiana and is a veteran of the U.S. Army. According to Morse, there are already plenty of ways to be confused about how and where you can carry a concealed weapon.

“I think it’s going to cause a lot of confusion because not everyone is going to want to go out and educate themselves,” Morse said. “There’s a lot of tripping points in the law where, even as a concealed carry permit holder, you have to question what certain regulations mean.

“For example, the law says that you can’t carry at a permitted parade. Having talked to the Attorney General’s office and the Louisiana State Police, the way that they interpret it is that you can’t carry if you are a member of the permitted body,” Morse continued. “If you have a float in the Mardi Gras parade, you can’t carry on the float, but if you are a member of the public attending the parade, then you can carry.”

In addition to his concerns about veteran’s legal understanding, Morse also said that he felt the law creates separate classes of citizens.

“I’m a veteran myself, and as an Army vet, I personally have a problem with the law as it stands,” Morse said. “I don’t believe that, as a veteran, I should have more rights than someone who isn’t a veteran. That’s my personal issue with this. I think that if we are going to do ‘constitutional carry’, which is essentially what this is, then it should be the same across the board for all citizens, not just certain classes.”

“Constitutional carry”, also known as permitless carry, has swept the nation recently, with 25 states now allowing citizens to conceal a firearm on their person without passing a background check or obtaining a permit.

Louisiana has had legislative support for its own constitutional carry bill, but so far, none of the bills have passed. Currently, to obtain a concealed carry permit as a non-veteran, several steps must be completed.

First, you will need to attend an 8-hour classroom session that covers firearm handling, safety, and the laws surrounding concealed carry. Following the completion of the class, a range session where applicants demonstrate competency is required. Once you pass the class and shooting qualification, you will need to submit a 4-page permit application, several affidavits regarding criminal and medical history, and a fingerprint card. The background check process can take up to 6 months and is one of the most detailed background checks regarding firearms.

For veterans, Morse said that there are still benefits to receiving the Louisiana concealed carry permit.

If you don’t go through a course, then you can only concealed carry in Louisiana,” he explained. “With a Louisiana concealed carry permit, you can carry in 39 states, so that’s one of the pitfalls of this new law that isn’t being explained properly. It’s going to be one of those things that veterans will have to be aware of, because ignorance of the law does not constitute a defense.”

Morse said that since the new law passed, despite informing his veteran customers that his class is no longer required, he hasn’t lost a single customer.

“We offer a discounted course for veterans, and we notified everyone when the news came out that the concealed carry bill was going to pass,” he said. “I told them before the class started that the law was going into effect and that they wouldn’t need the class anymore. Nobody left, everyone stayed and completed the class. In my class, we spend over two hours on the laws in the state of Louisiana. We also cover the use of force and the force continuum, which means the process and requirements for using lethal force.”

The Rustic Renegade offers concealed carry courses on the last Saturday of every month, and Morse encouraged veterans who want to take concealed carry seriously to educate themselves on the laws.

Anyone interested in receiving instruction from The Rustic Renegade can contact them by phone at (337) 357-1168 or follow them on Facebook at facebook.com/RusticLouisiana.