Louisiana Gun Laws: Permitless Carry, Permits and Penalties

Louisiana gun laws let anyone 18 or older who can legally possess a firearm carry a concealed handgun in most public places without a permit, thanks to a 2024 change that made Louisiana a permitless carry state.¹ The state still issues concealed handgun permits, still bars certain people from touching a firearm at all, still keeps guns out of specific places, and still governs when you may use one in self-defense. Here is how each piece works.

Permitless Carry Since July 2024

Act 1 (Senate Bill 1) took effect on July 4, 2024. It amended R.S. 14:95 to exempt anyone 18 or older from the concealed carry prohibition, as long as the person can legally possess a firearm.¹ You do not need a training course, a state registration, or any documentation to carry concealed in Louisiana.

The age floor is worth pausing on. Federal law sets 21 as the minimum to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer and 18 for long guns, but Louisiana’s carry law independently sets 18 as the threshold for carrying concealed. An 18-year-old who legally owns a handgun through a private sale or gift can carry it concealed. If you fall into any federal prohibited category or have a felony conviction, permitless carry does not apply to you regardless of age.

Why You Might Still Want a Concealed Handgun Permit

Permitless carry stops at the state line. To carry concealed in another state, you need a recognized permit, and Louisiana’s concealed handgun permit has reciprocity with dozens of states.² While carrying under reciprocity, you follow the host state’s rules, not Louisiana’s.

A permit also gives you documented proof of eligibility in situations where that matters. Restaurants holding a Class A-Restaurant alcohol permit, for example, allow concealed carry by people who either hold a permit or qualify under the permitless carry statute.³ Both paths give you access; the permit just makes proving your status simpler.

How To Get a Concealed Handgun Permit

The permit is governed by R.S. 40:1379.3. The application process is unchanged by permitless carry.

Eligibility and Training

Applicants must be Louisiana residents, meaning legally domiciled in the state with a valid Louisiana driver’s license or state ID. Military members stationed elsewhere who maintain a Louisiana dwelling still qualify. You must demonstrate handgun competence through one of several approved paths: an NRA handgun safety course, a Department of Public Safety-approved firearms training class, a law enforcement academy program, or documented small arms training from military service within the past 60 months.⁴ Most civilian applicants take a state-approved course, which typically runs $80 to $200.

The department conducts a background investigation using state records and, when warranted, a fingerprint submission to the FBI for a national records check.⁴

Fees

The permit lasts five years. Current fees from the Louisiana State Police:

Standard five-year permit for ages 21 to 64: $125
Age 65 and older: $62.50
Active military: $62.50
Veterans with honorable discharge: fee-exempt
Lifetime permit for ages 21 to 64: $500
Lifetime permit for age 65 and older: $250

First-time applicants who have not lived continuously in Louisiana for the 15 years before applying pay an additional $50 processing fee.⁵ All fees are nonrefundable.

Keeping Your Permit Current

Permit holders must notify the Department of Public Safety and Corrections of any change of address or name within 30 days. Failing to do so can result in a permit suspension of up to 30 days.⁴ Providing false information on an application is grounds for denial or revocation.

Who Cannot Own or Carry Firearms

Neither permitless carry nor a concealed handgun permit overrides the federal categories that bar certain people from possessing firearms. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922, you are prohibited from having a firearm if you:

Have a felony conviction (any crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment)
Are a fugitive from justice
Use or are addicted to controlled substances
Have been adjudicated as mentally defective or committed to a mental institution at age 16 or older
Are in the U.S. unlawfully or on a nonimmigrant visa (with narrow exceptions)
Received a dishonorable discharge from the military
Have renounced U.S. citizenship
Are subject to a qualifying domestic violence restraining order that was issued after a hearing with notice and participation, and either includes a credible-threat finding or explicitly prohibits the use of force against an intimate partner or child
Have a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction

⁶

Louisiana adds its own layer. Under R.S. 14:95.1, a convicted felon who possesses a firearm or carries a concealed weapon faces imprisonment at hard labor. Even an attempt carries one to seven and a half years in prison and a fine of $1,000 to $5,000. If the offense occurs while the person is on probation or parole, the sentence runs consecutively with whatever time remains on the prior sentence.⁷

Where You Cannot Carry

Both permitless carry and a concealed handgun permit have geographic limits. Louisiana law and federal law each carve out locations where firearms are off-limits, and the restrictions apply whether or not you have a permit.

State Restricted Locations

R.S. 14:95 prohibits possessing a dangerous weapon in law enforcement offices and buildings, jails and detention facilities, courthouses and courtrooms (though a judge may carry in his or her own courtroom), and the state capitol building. Schools carry a separate prohibition: you cannot intentionally possess a firearm on a school campus during regular hours or on a school bus. “School” covers any public or private elementary, secondary, high school, or public vocational-technical school, and “campus” includes all property within the school boundary.⁸ Louisiana designates a “firearm-free zone” extending 1,000 feet from any school campus.⁹

Bars and most establishments that serve alcohol for on-premises consumption are also off-limits. R.S. 14:95.5 prohibits possessing a firearm on the premises of any “alcoholic beverage outlet,” broadly defined as a business that sells drinks for consumption on-site. The exception is a Class A-Restaurant permit, where both concealed handgun permit holders and those carrying under permitless carry may bring a firearm. Violating the restriction carries up to a $500 fine, six months in jail, or both.³

Federal Restricted Locations

Federal law adds its own list regardless of what Louisiana permits. Firearms are prohibited in federal buildings where employees regularly work, on all U.S. Postal Service property including parking lots, in airport sterile areas past TSA screening, and in the U.S. Capitol except as authorized by the Capitol Police Board. The Gun-Free School Zones Act separately makes it a federal offense to possess a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, though people with a state-issued concealed carry permit are exempt from that particular federal restriction.

Local Ordinances Cannot Add Restrictions

Cities and parishes cannot create their own firearm rules. R.S. 40:1796, effective August 1, 2024, bars any political subdivision from enacting or enforcing rules more restrictive than state law on the manufacture, sale, purchase, possession, carrying, storage, ownership, transfer, or transportation of firearms and ammunition. Any existing local ordinance in conflict was required to be repealed or amended within six months. If a local government violates the preemption, an affected person or organization can sue for declaratory and injunctive relief and recover reasonable attorney fees, costs, and expert witness fees.¹⁰ The state-level rules are the rules everywhere in Louisiana.

Self-Defense: Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground

Louisiana pairs a castle doctrine with a stand-your-ground rule that applies anywhere you have a legal right to be.

Use of Force

Under R.S. 14:19, you may use force against another person when it is reasonably necessary to prevent a forcible offense against yourself or to prevent a forcible offense or trespass against property you lawfully possess. Inside your home, workplace, or vehicle, the law creates a legal presumption that you reasonably believed force was necessary if someone was unlawfully and forcibly entering or had already forced entry, and you knew or had reason to believe that was happening.¹¹ That presumption shifts the burden in your favor and is the core of the castle doctrine.

Louisiana imposes no duty to retreat. If you are not engaged in unlawful activity and are in a place where you have a right to be, you may stand your ground and meet force with force.¹¹ The stand-your-ground rule applies in public spaces, not only inside a dwelling.

Justifiable Homicide

R.S. 14:20 covers when deadly force resulting in death is legally justified. A homicide is justifiable when you reasonably believe you face imminent death or great bodily harm and killing is necessary to save yourself, or when you act to prevent a violent felony involving danger to life. The castle doctrine presumption applies here too: if someone unlawfully and forcibly enters your home, business, or vehicle, the law presumes you held a reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to prevent the entry or compel the intruder to leave.¹²

One important limit: these castle doctrine protections do not apply to someone engaged in drug trafficking at the time of the incident.¹²

Penalties for Common Firearms Offenses

Illegal carrying of weapons under R.S. 14:95: For anyone who does not qualify for the permitless carry exemption, carrying a concealed weapon is punishable by a fine of up to $500, imprisonment for up to six months, or both.⁸
Felon in possession under R.S. 14:95.1: A convicted felon caught with a firearm faces imprisonment at hard labor. An attempt carries one to seven and a half years and a fine of $1,000 to $5,000.⁷
Firearms at alcohol outlets under R.S. 14:95.5: Possessing a firearm at a bar or other establishment where drinks are served for on-premises consumption, unless it holds a Class A-Restaurant permit, carries up to a $500 fine, six months in jail, or both.³
Weapons in restricted buildings under R.S. 14:95: Intentionally possessing a dangerous weapon in a law enforcement building, jail, courthouse, or the state capitol is separately prohibited, with peace officers exempted while performing official duties.⁸

Transporting Firearms Across State Lines

If you are driving through another state with a firearm, the federal Firearms Owners’ Protection Act provides a safe-passage rule under 18 U.S.C. § 926A. You may transport a firearm from any place where you can legally possess it to another place where you can legally possess it, even if you pass through states with stricter laws. The firearm must be unloaded, and neither the gun nor any ammunition can be readily accessible from the passenger compartment. In a vehicle without a separate trunk, the firearm and ammunition must be in a locked container other than the glove compartment or center console.¹³

This federal protection only covers transport. If you stop for an extended period, check into a hotel overnight, or conduct business in a restrictive state, you may no longer qualify for safe passage. A Louisiana concealed handgun permit with reciprocity in the destination state is the more reliable option for anyone who needs to carry while traveling, not just pass through.

1
Louisiana State Legislature. ACT No. 1 – Senate Bill No. 1
2
Louisiana State Police. Reciprocity
3
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 14:95.5 – Possession of Firearm on Premises of Alcoholic Beverage Outlet
4
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 40:1379.3 – Statewide Permits for Concealed Handguns, Application Procedures, Definitions
5
Louisiana State Police. CHP Fees
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
7
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 14:95.1 – Possession of Firearm or Carrying Concealed Weapon by a Person Convicted of Certain Felonies
8
Justia. Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 14 Section 95 – Illegal Carrying of Weapons
9
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 14:95.6 – Firearm-Free Zone, Notice
10
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 40:1796 – Preemption of State Law
11
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 14:19 – Use of Force or Violence in Defense
12
Louisiana State Legislature. Louisiana Revised Statutes RS 14:20 – Justifiable Homicide
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 926A – Interstate Transportation of Firearms