Stronger protections for rights of gun owners clears House panel
by Ed Anderson - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

BATON ROUGE -- A proposed change in the state Constitution to strengthen gun owners' rights cleared a House committee Wednesday on a 9-5 vote. Senate Bill 303 by Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, took on substantial changes in the Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice as it heads to the full House. Riser said the proposal "will give Louisiana the strongest Second Amendment rights in the nation," referring to the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms. "This bill means more to me than any of the bills I have handled. This protects the rights of law-abiding citizens." Riser said the measure, worked on by his staff and National Rifle Association lobbyists seated at the witness table with him, is needed to protect future generations of legal gun owners from having courts or more liberal Louisiana legislatures restrict that right.