Gun Rights
States continue to diverge on gun policies, though overall average freedom has increased substantially over time, with many gains coming since 2020. Since D.C. v. Heller1 and McDonald v. Chicago,2 federal court decisions continue to restrain the restrictiveness of state and local gun policies, most recently in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen,3 which legalizes concealed carry nationwide without a prior showing of need. Most of the weight of the gun rights category is because of the boost these policies receive from state and federal constitutional protection.
Only some firearms policies trigger Second Amendment scrutiny, and those are the only ones to get the full “times 10” constitutional weighting factor. We follow recent case law in our judgments on this point. On the one hand, the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in Heller and McDonald held that federal, state, and local governments are not allowed to ban gun ownership for self-defense purposes altogether, and state and federal appeals court decisions have also held that the Second Amendment protects a right to carry a firearm outside the home. On the other hand, the Supreme Court has opined that the U.S. Constitution permits bans on certain types of firearms and reasonable regulations on how someone may qualify to carry a weapon for self-defense. However, since the Louisiana Constitution provides that all firearms-related restrictions should be subject to strict scrutiny, we apply a “times 5” constitutional weighting factor to all those firearms policies not receiving the “times 10” boost. Variables falling into this latter category include (a) concealed-carry permit costs, (b) concealed-carry permit terms, (c) restrictions on multiple purchases of handguns, (d) licensing or regulation of gun dealers, (e) retention of sales records, (f) universal background checks, (g) registration of firearms, (h) locking-device requirements, (i) ammunition microstamping, (j) duty-to-retreat laws, and (k) laws relating to National Firearms Act weapons (machine guns, sound suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns).
The most significant variable in the gun rights category is the concealed-carry index, which takes into account shall issue versus may issue, carry in vehicles, local preemption, and the scope of places where concealed carry is allowed. This has been an area of active policy change in the last few years, with more states adopting “shall issue,” sometimes under threat of judicial intervention, and even more adopting “constitutional carry” (concealed carry of a handgun without a permit). Concealed-carry permit cost comes next. The existence of a local gun ban—which only Illinois had until struck down in McDonald v. Chicago—comes next. At a slightly lower weight are our index of firearms owner licensing requirement, waiting periods on firearms purchases, and the term of carry permits.
Other variables included in this category—and worth far less than those discussed in the previous paragraph—are our index of (a) open-carry laws, (b) training requirements for carry permits, (c) stricter-than-federal minimum age to purchase firearms, (d) assault weapons bans, (e) duty-to-retreat laws (“castle doctrine”), (f) restrictions on multiple purchases, (g) locking-device requirements, (h) dealer licensing, (i) registration of firearms, (j) ballistic identification or microstamping requirements, (k) “design safety standards” (bans on cheap handguns), (l) large-capacity magazine bans, (m) laws regarding Class 3 weapons, (n) retention of sales records, and (o) .50-caliber rifle bans.