On June 29, 2021 Governor Edwards signed into law HB124 “Provides an exception to certain offenses of illegal carrying of weapons for persons with a concealed handgun permit”. The bill enacted as Act 465 goes into effect on August 1, 2021. According to a press release from Knife Rights, the new law will render aid for those that have a concealed carry weapons permit and wish to carry knives. While the new provisions of the law protect knives as bearable arms, switchblades and automatic knives are excluded.

Louisiana HB 124, supported by Knife Rights, has been signed by Governor Edwards, providing for the carry of any “instrumentality customarily used or intended for use as a dangerous weapon” as long as the carrier has a concealed handgun permit. This would include knives, except, unfortunately, switchblades.

The law does not go into effect until August 1, 2021.

In 2018 Knife Rights was able repeal Louisiana’s complete ban on switchblades, but in order to get it passed we had to compromise by including the restriction that the knife not be “intentionally concealed on one’s person.” Unfortunately, HB 124 does NOT remove that specific restriction. Concealed carry of a switchblade (automatic knife) remains illegal in Louisiana, even for concealed handgun permitees.

While requiring a CCW to carry a knife concealed is not optimal, we supported this effort as an incremental improvement in Louisiana law. Our ultimate commonsense goal is always to remove any restrictions to carry of any knife by law-abiding persons, period.

The applicable section of the law reads:

The provisions of this Paragraph shall not apply to a person with a valid concealed handgun permit issued pursuant to R.S. 40:1379.1.1, 1379.3, or 1379.3.2 nor shall it prohibit a person with a valid concealed handgun permit issued pursuant to R.S. 40:1379.1.1, 1379.3, or 1379.3.2 from carrying a concealed firearm or other instrumentality customarily used or intended for probable use as a dangerous weapon on his person unless otherwise prohibited by this Section.

This is a big step towards protecting the bearer of knives from being prosecuted for possessing the same in Louisiana. The Second Amendment often gets regarded as to protect firearm ownership and carry from being infringed on, however we need to remember that this right extends to all arms. We need not rehash Biden’s recent mumblings that a cannon cannot be owned by a private citizen, so it should be obvious that knives are too a protected class of weapon.

The continued work by Knife Rights and organizations like it needs to be supported. Without the dedication of many freedom loving patriots in this country, we would not be gaining the ground that we are in the realm of Second Amendment protections. Laws like this get a jump start on keeping us from becoming England, disarmed with knife drop boxes placed throughout the cities. We certainly don’t want to be relegated to using a narwhal tusk for self-defense.