In Lafayette, Louisiana, there's been an interesting something afoot. It seems lawmakers there have been trying to create a gun-free zone surrounding parts of the Univerity of Louisiana Lafayette. In particular, the area around a museum. 

As Cam noted on Wednesday, those plans have been halted.

That's probably for the best considering what we've now learned.

The Current has since confirmed that Precinct Capt. David LeBlanc, whose precinct covers the Downtown area, sent an email Tuesday telling officers not to enforce the rule due to legal concerns.

According to the email, that directive came from the LCG legal department along with interim Chief Paul Trouard. KADN’s Wednesday story placed the responsibility for the decision on Mayor-President Monique Boulet, but Boulet’s role in the enforcement halt is unclear. LCG has not responded to a request for comment by The Acadiana Advocate/The Current.

...

Still, Sgt. Robin Green with the LPD said enforcing laws on the ownership and carrying of firearms hasn’t been a priority for LPD officers patrolling Downtown. “There’s a lot of people between Friday and Saturday nights that do frequent that area, and there are people that do carry firearms,” the spokeswoman said. “That’s not why [officers] are out there.”

Now, I have somewhat mixed feelings.

On one hand, the fact that officers aren't tripping over t themselves to harass lawful gun owners who are exercising their right to keep and bear arms is, without a doubt, a good thing.

The flip side here, though, is that if they're not enforcing the laws on the books because that's now why officers are out there, then why in the world is anyone trying to create a gun-free zone in the area in the first place?

If they're not enforcing laws that are already on the books, why create new restrictions that will only be followed by the law-abiding, especially when there's no reason the police would bother to enforce those laws?

Ultimately, I'm not that worked up about anything. The new measure is dead, at least for now, so that aspect is a non-issue. Law-abiding citizens in Lafayette can go about their business downtown without having to worry about walking too close to some building, putting them in a gun-free zone and landing them in hot water for doing nothing wrong at all.

And to the lawmakers who even considered this, knock it off. Those who would cause a problem won't be dissuaded by your little signs. If they want to shoot someone, they're going to do it and your signs won't stop them. No would-be killer ever said, "I'm going to kill this mofo just as soon as he steps out of that gun-free zone." It's literally never happened. They don't care.

I mean, if they don't respect the laws about not shooting people, it's safe to say they won't care a lick about your gun-free zone signs.

So let people carry so they can defend themselves and let the police do as it seems they've been doing, namely focusing on people doing things that are actually wrong, not exercising their right to keep and bear arms.