Louisiana bill to hold adults responsible if children access loaded guns rejected

BATON ROUGE, La. (LSU Manship School News Service) – A bill holding adults legally responsible if children gain access to a loaded firearm was rejected 6-3 by a House committee this week.

House Bill 586, by Rep. Vincent Cox III, R-Gretna, would have criminalized leaving a loaded firearm where children could access it, potentially harming themselves or others, but failed in the House Administration of Criminal Justice Committee.

“I believe that HB 586 is common sense and responsibility without restricting Second Amendment rights,” Cox said.

Ashlyn Carraway, whose 13-year-old son Noah died due to his friend accidentally shooting him at a sleepover in 2011, spoke in support of the bill’s goals of child safety.

“We try our absolute best to keep them safe in every other way that we can,” Carraway said. “Why would this be any different?”

Even though her son learned gun safety, Carraway said his knowledge did not save him, and there was no law in place to hold the friend’s parents accountable for the death. Noah’s friend had held a rifle at Noah’s head as a joke, not realizing the safety was not engaged.

Daniel Zelenka, president of the Louisiana Shooting Association, spoke in opposition to the bill. He said the standard of reasonably knowing a child could access a firearm is “impermissibly vague,” and the law is not preventative, as it takes effect after an incident.

Zelenka also said the law conflicts with the U.S. Supreme Court case ruling that Washington, D.C.’s firearm storage law was unconstitutional because firearms were not available for self-defense.

“I hate when you come here,” Rep. Alonzo Knox, D-New Orleans, told Zelenka. “I am triggered. I am disgusted.”

Knox said for the past three years, the stories that parents share about children losing their lives in gun incidents have not seemed to motivate gun-rights advocates to work toward a compromise.

Rep. Debbie Villio, R-Kenner, the chair of the committee, asked Knox to be respectful of Zelenka.

“Nothing I hold against him personally, but on a political and on a professional (level), it really disgusts me,” Knox replied.

Villio, a former state prosecutor, suggested that the bill, which would create a misdemeanor, could make litigation more confusing, since Louisiana already has made negligent homicide a felony.

Dr. Jillian Ploof, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Our Lady of the Lake Medical Center, said these laws in states like Texas and Florida are preventative, while a negligent homicide charge would occur after a death.

The law requires seven days in between the alleged offense and arrest if offenders are children’s relatives and the children caused death or injury to themselves.

Rep. Bryan Fontenot, R-Thibodaux, expressed concern that in these cases, parents who lose a child to suicide could end up in prison.

Cox noted that Louisiana has other firearm safety laws, such as requiring children between the ages of 10 and 12 to have adult supervision to hunt.

A similar bill by Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, failed in a Senate Judiciary Committee on April 7. It would have criminalized unsecured firearm storage with knowledge that a minor or prohibited person could gain access to the weapon.

Cox wrote a similar bill last year that advanced in the House Criminal Justice Committee but failed on the floor.

Cox edited the bill this year to specify it would apply to children 15 and younger and added exemptions for hunting and self-defense.

Since the 2025 bill failed, 14 unintentional shootings by children have occurred. The Louisiana Department of Health released a report in April linking preventative laws to a 33% decrease in these shootings.

House Bill 94, by Rep. Danny McCormick, R-Oil City, would prohibit seizing firearms without due process and accepting federal money to seize them.

McCormick deferred a vote on the bill to address confusion about its effectiveness after adding an amendment stating the bill would not apply to police officers who take firearms so they can perform their duties.

“Now I do understand the financial, not accepting federal dollars – you got me on that,” Fontenot said. “But once you put the amendment on, your bill does really absolutely nothing.”

McCormick said he wrote the bill to prevent Red Flag laws, which would allow courts to decide to seize firearms from people who are a danger to themselves or others.

A Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Red Flag bills in 2024 and 2025.