BATON ROUGE, La. — Gun rights supporters, crime victims, and law enforcement leaders packed Gov. Jeff Landry’s press room at the state capitol.
The governor signed 11 of the 22 bills passed during the special legislative session focused on state criminal justice reforms.
“These things are important to the economic viability of our state,” Landry said. “Today, we bring some justice to victims.”
Among the bills Landry signed into law is a measure that adds nitrogen gas and electrocution to the methods the state can carry out the death penalty.
It will likely revive capital punishment in Louisiana which has been on hold since 2010.
He also signed a bill allowing law-abiding adults to carry a concealed weapon without a permit, training, or background check.
“It’s ensuring law-abiding citizens are not harassed or have to ask the government permission to do that which the second amendment allows you to do,” Landry said.
The governor signed a series of bills by Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, which he dubbed “truth in sentencing.”
They do away with probation for most offenders, limit good time releases, and require inmates to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence they receive.
“We don’t want people to go to jail and come back to jail,” Landry said. “We want jail to be a deterrent.”
Metro area lawmakers, speaking on WWL Louisiana’s Crime in Focus special, gave Landry mixed reviews on the session.
“A lot of rhetoric, a lot of tough on crime rhetoric, we’re going to deal with these criminals, very soft on actual policies that are going to actually improve public safety,” Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans said.
“The governor sent a message when he ran that he was going to be tough on crime and he delivered,” Sen. Pat Connick, R-Marrero said. “Nothing was going to stop him. He had the support of legislators, the support of the people around the state.”
Governor Landry is expected in New Orleans on Wednesday to sign additional bills from the crime session. They include measures to fund state police troop NOLA– increase penalties for carjacking and fentanyl distribution and make certain juvenile criminal records public.
Landry said during the regular session which starts on Monday, his administration plans to focus on education reform and creating economic opportunities.
Criminal justice reform advocates have said both are sorely needed if the state is serious about reducing crime.
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