The Louisiana Senate overwhelmingly rejected Tuesday legislation that would ban the sale of assault weapons for those under age of 21.
New Orleans Democratic Sen. Troy Carter said the restriction is reasonable and necessary given the spate of recent mass shootings that killed dozens of people, such as the 58 murdered in Las Vegas in October and the 17 students and teachers shot to death at a Florida high school in February. In both incidents the shooters used legally purchased guns capable of firing a high volume of bullets with the squeeze of the trigger.
The Florida shooter was 18 years old when he legally purchased the assault rifle he used on former classmates.
“We need to do something to make our classrooms safer,” Carter told his colleagues and packed galleries of students and people wearing gun rights t-shirts.
State law already forbids the sale of assault weapons to 18 year olds. Senate Bill 274 would have made illegal the sale of assault weapons to people under the age of 21.
It's already illegal for people younger than 21 to purchase handguns from licensed dealers. Carter's bill would expand that age restriction to weapons specifically outlined in his legislation, including semi-automatic long rifles with fixed magazines that can take more than 10 rounds of ammunition and shotguns with revolving cylinder magazines or detachable magazines. Other types of weapons are also outlawed in the bill.
The Senate rejected the measure on a vote of 9 to 26.
Sen. Bodi White, R-Central, challenged Carter saying the ban wouldn’t solve the problems of mass shootings. Carter didn’t disagree.
“This is not the answer to it all," Carter said, adding it is a strong incremental step in the right direction.
Repeating that he was a supporter of the Second Amendment to the
