New Orleans’ 8th District Police station in the French Quarter on Monday, July 1, 2024. Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said that the station is being designated a vocational-technical school because training of officers takes place in a classroom there. The designation means gun possession will be forbidden in a 1,000-foot radius of the building. The move comes as a new state law eliminates permit requirements for carrying a concealed handgun.
State law forbids carrying concealed weapons within 1,000 feet of such a facility, Kirkpatrick said. That radius from the station will cover a large section of the Quarter, including several blocks of Bourbon Street. “I wouldn’t call it a work-around,” District Attorney Jason Williams told reporters gathered in the lobby of the two-story, 19th century building. “It’s using laws that have always been on the books to deal with a real and current threat to public safety.
State lawmakers earlier this year passed legislation to make Louisiana one of the latest states to do away with a permit requirement for carrying a concealed handgun. Past efforts to do so were vetoed by former Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. But the new Republican governor, Jeff Landry, supported and signed the new law.