Travel & Firearms
If you are contemplating air travel, and regularly carry a firearm, make sure you double-check that it isn’t in your luggage or that it is secured correctly.
Federal law, Louisiana law, and Shreveport city ordinances prohibit the possession of firearms in and around airports.
Federal law prohibits the “deliver[ing]” of a firearm to a “common or contract carrier for transportation or shipment in interstate or foreign commerce” any package containing a firearm without written notice to the carrier or unless “deliver[ed]…into the custody of the pilot, captain, conductor or operator of such common or contract carrier for the duration of the trip.” (18 USC 922(e)).
Louisiana Revised Statutes Title 40, Section 1379.3 prohibits the concealed carrying of a handgun in “[a]ny portion of an airport facility where the carrying of firearms is prohibited under federal law, except that no person shall be prohibited from carrying any legal firearm into the terminal, if the firearm is encased for shipment, for the purpose of checking such firearm as lawful baggage.” (Subsection (N)(7)). That statute further states that no concealed carry permit permits the carrying of a concealed firearm in violation of state or federal law.
Finally, Shreveport City Ordinances also prohibit the possession of firearms on the premises of airports. Ordinance 50-135.1(a)(1) prohibits “[t]he intentional concealment of any firearm, or other instrumentality customarily used or intended for probable use as a dangerous weapon, on one’s person,” and 50-135.2 states: “no person shall knowingly or intentionally possess or cause to be present or attempt to possess or cause to be present in…public buildings, structures or facilities owned by, occupied by, used by or under the control of the city, any firearm or other instrumentality customarily used or intended for probable use as a dangerous weapon.”
When you get ready to use air travel this summer, be careful about your firearms and if you or someone you know could use our help, give us a call at (318) 459-9111.