Firearm law reference

Louisiana Gun Laws: Complete Guide

A practical overview of Louisiana firearm laws affecting private sales, purchases, carrying, transportation, storage, and ownership.

Permitless concealed carry took effect July 4, 2024. Prohibited-person, age, law-enforcement-contact, school, alcohol, private-property, interstate-transfer, and federal rules still apply.

Louisiana Gun Law Quick Facts

Start with the three rules most people need. The full comparison table covers the remaining purchase, carry, ownership, and restriction topics.

Minimum purchase age: Depends on seller and firearm
Louisiana prohibits sales for value to people under eighteen; federal dealers generally require eighteen for long guns and twenty-one for handguns and other firearms. [5][17]
Permitless concealed carry: Yes, generally age 18+
A person age eighteen or older who is not prohibited may generally carry a concealed handgun without a permit, subject to permit-law restrictions. [2][3]
Private sale background check: Generally no
An occasional same-state private transfer between eligible Louisiana residents generally needs no background check. [6][16]

Swipe horizontally to read the full table.

Law	Status	What it means
FFL required for private transfers	Generally no	An FFL is generally unnecessary for a lawful intrastate private transfer but ordinarily required for an interstate transfer. [6][16]
Purchase permit	No general requirement	Louisiana requires no general permit before buying a firearm. [4][18]
Waiting period	No general requirement	Louisiana imposes no general firearm waiting period. [4][18]
Firearm registration	No general ordinary-firearm registry	Louisiana does not generally register ordinary rifles, shotguns, or handguns; federal NFA registration remains separate. [14][15][20]
Firearm owner license	No general requirement	Louisiana requires no general license merely to own a firearm. [4]
Concealed handgun permit	Optional and available	Louisiana State Police issues optional permits that remain useful for reciprocity and other legal benefits. [1][3]
Open carry	Generally legal	Louisiana generally permits open carry by a person who may lawfully possess the firearm. [2][4]
Vehicle carry	Generally allowed	An eligible person may generally carry a handgun in a vehicle, openly or concealed, subject to location and conduct restrictions. [2][3]
Magazine capacity	No state limit	Louisiana has no general magazine-capacity restriction. [14][15]
Assault weapons	No state ban	Louisiana has no assault-weapon ban covering commonly owned semiautomatic firearms. [14][15]
NFA firearms	Generally federally regulated	Louisiana generally allows federally lawful suppressors, short-barreled firearms, machine guns, and other NFA items without a separate state registration process. [14][11][12][20]
Extreme risk protection orders	No general state law	Louisiana has no general extreme risk protection order process. [4]
Safe storage	No universal mandate	Louisiana has no universal firearm-locking mandate; secure storage is still important, especially where minors or prohibited people could gain access. [5][7]
Lost or stolen reporting	No general state deadline	Louisiana imposes no general statewide reporting deadline on ordinary firearm owners. [4]
State preemption	Broad	Louisiana broadly preempts local firearm rules that are more restrictive than state law, subject to listed exceptions. [15]
Bill of sale	Not generally required	Louisiana generally requires no bill of sale for an occasional lawful private transfer, though a record can be useful. [6][16]
Castle doctrine / no duty to retreat	Yes, with conditions	Louisiana presumes deadly force is reasonable against someone unlawfully and forcibly entering an occupied dwelling, business, or vehicle, and a person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and has a right to be present has no duty to retreat anywhere in the state. [25][24]

Handgun and Rifle/Shotgun Rules in Louisiana

Louisiana treats handguns differently from rifles and shotguns in a few specific places, mainly around age and juvenile possession. Topics not listed here, such as carrying without a permit or private-sale background checks, apply the same way to both firearm types under R.S. 14:95, which covers concealment of any firearm.

Topic	Handguns	Rifles & shotguns
Minimum age to buy from a licensed dealer	21	18This is the federal dealer floor; Louisiana's own age rule (R.S. 14:91) bars a sale for value to anyone under 18 regardless of firearm type. [5][17]
Minimum age to buy ammunition from a dealer	21 for handgun ammunition	18 for rifle or shotgun ammunition [17]
Possession by a person under 18	Generally prohibited under R.S. 14:95.8, with exceptions for supervised training, hunting, home or permitted-property possession, and written parental permission	No comparable statewide statute specifically restricting a minor's possession of a rifle or shotgun [7]

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Louisiana Bill of Sale Find an FFL Guns for Sale in Louisiana

Private Sales and Transfers

Quick answer

An occasional lawful transfer between eligible Louisiana residents generally needs no FFL or background check. [6][16]

Louisiana does not generally require an occasional, intrastate transfer between unlicensed residents to go through a dealer. State law does, however, make it a crime to intentionally give, sell, lend, deliver, or otherwise transfer a firearm to someone the transferor knows is prohibited under state or federal law. [6][16]
A sale or other delivery for value to a person under eighteen is prohibited, and lack of knowledge of the recipient's age is not a defense. Separately, Louisiana generally bars a person under eighteen from knowingly possessing a handgun on the person, but lists exceptions for safety courses, range use, hunting, certain travel, possession at home or on permitted property, and possession with written parental permission. [5][7]
Federal law ordinarily requires a transfer between residents of different states to be completed through an FFL in the recipient's state, even when the parties meet in Louisiana. An unlicensed person also may not repeatedly buy and resell firearms as a business without the required federal license. [16]

Confirm Louisiana residency, identity, age, and eligibility. [6][5][7]
Use an FFL whenever residency or eligibility is uncertain. [16]

Important notice: A voluntary bill of sale documents a transaction but does not legalize a prohibited transfer. [16]

Buying a Firearm

Louisiana requires no general purchase permit, waiting period, ordinary-firearm registration, or owner license. A licensed dealer ordinarily completes the federal transfer form and obtains a NICS determination before delivery unless a federal exception applies. [4][18][17]
Louisiana prohibits a sale or delivery for value to anyone under eighteen. Federal dealers generally may transfer rifles and shotguns at eighteen, but may not transfer handguns, frames, receivers, or other non-long-gun firearms to a person under twenty-one; lawful private transfers remain subject to the state under-eighteen rule and the juvenile-handgun-possession restrictions. [5][7][17]
ATF currently lists Louisiana statewide and lifetime concealed handgun permits as qualifying alternatives to a NICS check, subject to federal conditions including the five-year issuance window. Sheriff-issued parish permits and temporary domestic-violence permits do not qualify, and an FFL is not required to accept even a qualifying permit instead of contacting NICS. [3][19]

Ownership and Prohibited Persons

Louisiana R.S. 14:95.1 covers listed felony crimes of violence, burglary-related offenses, felony weapons and controlled-substance offenses, sex offenses, attempts, and comparable out-of-state, federal, or foreign convictions, as well as specified not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity findings. Federal prohibited-person categories apply independently and can be broader. [4][22][18]
The state conviction-based prohibition in R.S. 14:95.1 does not apply after ten years have passed from completion of sentence, probation, parole, suspension of sentence, or discharge from a mental institution, provided the person has had no felony conviction or qualifying insanity finding during that period. That state-law time limit does not itself guarantee relief from a separate federal disability, so a person with any disqualifying history should obtain an individualized eligibility review before possessing a firearm. [4][22][18]
A person prohibited because of a Louisiana mental-health adjudication or commitment may petition a district court under R.S. 28:57 for restoration after release, subject to statutory eligibility, evidence, and notice requirements. A successful final judgment is reported for correction of the person's NICS record. Louisiana otherwise has no general firearm-owner license or general extreme-risk-protection-order process. [10][18]

Concealed and Open Carry

A person age eighteen or older who is not prohibited under Louisiana or federal law may generally carry a concealed handgun without a permit. Open carry is also generally lawful for a person who may possess the firearm, but permitless carry does not override restricted-place, private-property, school, intoxication, or prohibited-person laws. [2][3][1]
Permitless carriers and permittees may not carry concealed while under the influence; the statute treats a blood-alcohol concentration of .05 percent or more, or confirmed presence of a controlled dangerous substance, as under the influence. When a police officer approaches in an official manner or for an identified official purpose, an armed carrier must disclose the weapon, submit to a pat-down, and allow temporary disarmament. [3][2]
The optional statewide permit generally requires the applicant to be at least twenty-one, satisfy statutory qualifications, complete approved training, and pass the State Police background investigation. Louisiana recognizes a current out-of-state permit held by a person at least twenty-one only when that state recognizes Louisiana permits, and an out-of-state permit does not authorize a Louisiana resident to carry in Louisiana. A permit remains useful for travel and potentially as a federal dealer background-check alternative; Louisiana also offers a free, optional two-hour online safety course, but completing it is not a carry permit. [1][3][13][19]

Self-Defense and the Castle Doctrine in Louisiana

Quick answer

Louisiana presumes force, including deadly force, was reasonably necessary against someone unlawfully and forcibly entering an occupied dwelling, place of business, or motor vehicle, and a person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and has a right to be present has no duty to retreat before using force anywhere in the state. A criminal-law justification does not automatically prevent a civil lawsuit over the same conduct, though Louisiana separately grants civil immunity when the statutory conditions are met. [25][24]

The Louisiana Constitution, Article I, Section 11, provides that the right of each citizen to keep and bear arms is fundamental and shall not be infringed, and that any restriction on that right is subject to strict scrutiny, the most protective standard of judicial review. Voters adopted this stricter language in 2012; the prior text only barred abridging the right while allowing regulation of concealed carry. [23]
R.S. 14:19 (use of force or violence in defense of a person or property, short of homicide) and R.S. 14:20 (justifiable homicide) both justify using force, and in some cases deadly force, to prevent a forcible offense against a person, or a forcible offense or trespass against property in the person's lawful possession, when the force used is reasonable and apparently necessary. Both sections carry the same rebuttable presumption that the belief in the need for force was reasonable when someone unlawfully and forcibly entered, or was entering, the person's occupied dwelling, place of business, or motor vehicle and the defender knew or had reason to believe that entry was occurring. [24][25]
Louisiana imposes no duty to retreat on a person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and has a right to be in the place where force is used; the statutes let that person stand their ground and meet force with force rather than requiring an attempt to withdraw first. [24][25]

Important notice: R.S. 9:2800.19 goes further than merely preserving a civil claim: it makes a person who uses reasonable and apparently necessary or deadly force under R.S. 14:19 or 14:20 immune from civil action over that force, and directs a court to award reasonable attorney fees, costs, lost income, and expenses to a defendant found immune. That immunity is not automatic just because no criminal charges were filed; it still requires a court to find the statutory conditions were met, so every self-defense situation is fact-specific and high-stakes. Get individualized legal advice before relying on any of this content in an actual confrontation. [26]

Transportation and Vehicles

An eligible adult may generally carry a handgun openly or concealed in a vehicle under Louisiana's carry rules. The school-zone statute separately lists a firearm contained entirely within a motor vehicle as an exception, but that does not authorize taking the firearm onto a school campus, school bus, or into another independently prohibited location. [2][3][8]
A person who lawfully possesses a firearm may generally transport or store it in a locked, privately owned vehicle in a parking area. An employer or business may require it to be hidden or placed in a locked container; exceptions include places where firearms are otherwise prohibited, employer-owned vehicles, and certain access-controlled parking areas when secure storage or reasonably close alternative parking is provided. [9]
For interstate travel, 18 U.S.C. 926A may protect continuous transportation between places where possession is lawful when the firearm is unloaded and neither it nor the ammunition is readily accessible from the passenger compartment. It is a transportation protection, not a carry license, and the laws at the destination and during stops still require attention. [21]

Restricted Firearms and Magazines

Louisiana has no general magazine-capacity limit or state assault-weapon ban for commonly owned semiautomatic firearms. Ordinary firearms and magazines remain subject to prohibited-person, location, transfer, and federal rules. [14][15]
Louisiana's machine-gun statute expressly exempts a machine gun lawfully manufactured, transferred, or possessed under federal law. Another state provision prohibits receiving, possessing, carrying, buying, selling, or transporting a firearm that has not been registered or transferred as required by applicable federal law. [11][12]
Suppressors, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, machine guns, and other NFA firearms therefore require the applicable federal approval, registration, tax, and transfer process before possession. Louisiana repealed its former separate state registration provisions, but federal compliance remains an express part of state law. [14][12][20]

Safe Storage and Reporting

Louisiana does not impose a universal locking or safe-storage mandate on ordinary firearm owners. That does not make unsecured access harmless: Louisiana generally restricts handgun possession by people under eighteen while providing specific supervised, sporting, home, property, and written-permission exceptions. [7]
The state also has no general deadline requiring an ordinary owner to report a lost or stolen firearm. Promptly notifying local law enforcement and preserving the make, model, caliber, and serial number can help document the loss and improve the chance of recovery. [6][7]
Practical storage should prevent access by minors, prohibited people, and unauthorized users: use a locked safe or container, control keys or combinations, and store ammunition appropriately for the household. A vehicle is especially vulnerable to theft, and the parking-lot protection statute itself requires a locked, privately owned vehicle and permits policies requiring concealment from view or a locked inner container. [9][7]

Restricted Locations and Private Property

A concealed handgun may not be carried in law-enforcement offices, detention facilities, courthouses, polling places, the state capitol, a public building used as a local governing authority's meeting place, federally restricted airport areas, or any other place where state or federal law bans firearms. Places of worship require authorization from the person who administers the institution, and active participants in a government-permitted parade or demonstration may not carry concealed; bystanders and spectators are excepted from that parade restriction. [2][3]
The prohibited list also includes the permitted portion of a Class A-General establishment licensed to sell alcohol for on-premises consumption and schools, school campuses, and school buses. The separate 1,000-foot school-zone law has exceptions for a firearm entirely within a vehicle or on private property and for a permit holder or permitless carrier carrying concealed within the surrounding zone; those exceptions do not generally authorize carry on the campus itself or on a school bus. [3][8]
A property owner, lessee, or lawful custodian may prohibit or restrict handguns on the property for both permittees and permitless carriers. Consent is specifically required before concealed carry into another person's private residence. Louisiana's carry statute does not prescribe a universal firearm-sign design, so carriers should honor actual notice, posted rules, and directions to leave; the locked-private-vehicle parking protection has its own rules and exceptions. [3][9]

State Preemption and Local Rules

R.S. 40:1796 broadly bars a parish, municipality, or other political subdivision from enacting or enforcing a rule more restrictive than state law concerning firearms, ammunition, components, accessories, and specified weapons. The covered subjects expressly include manufacture, sale, purchase, possession, carry, storage, ownership, taxation, transfer, transportation, licensing, and registration; nonconforming local rules are declared null and void. [15]
A person or membership organization adversely affected by a preempted local action may sue for declaratory and injunctive relief, and the statute directs a court to award a prevailing plaintiff reasonable attorney fees and costs. This enforcement mechanism was added with the 2024 expansion of preemption. [15]
Preemption preserves local collection of sales and use taxes, license and permit fees, and local authority to prohibit firearms in the commercial establishments and public buildings listed in the concealed-carry statute. It also allows designated high-risk parishes to develop emergency inventory-security plans with federal firearms licensees under the conditions stated in the law. [15][3]

Before Completing a Private Firearm Sale in Louisiana

Confirm Louisiana residency, identity, age, and eligibility before a private transfer. [6][5][7]
Use an FFL for interstate transfers or uncertain eligibility. [16]
Review restricted-place, alcohol, private-residence, and officer-contact rules before carrying. [2][3]
Consider an optional Louisiana permit for reciprocity and training benefits. [1][3]
Complete federal NFA requirements before acquiring a regulated item. [12][20]
Store firearms securely and keep serial-number records separately. [7][9]

Official Louisiana Firearm Law Resources

Concealed Handgun Information

Official permit applications, training, renewals, and reciprocity information.

Louisiana State Police

Permitless Carry Statute

Current age, eligibility, and cross-referenced restrictions.

Louisiana State Legislature

Concealed Handgun Permit Law

Permit qualifications, duties, and prohibited locations.

Louisiana State Legislature

Prohibited Persons Statute

State conviction-based firearm disabilities.

Louisiana State Legislature

School Property and Firearm-Free Zones

School-campus, school-bus, 1,000-foot-zone, vehicle, and private-property rules.

Louisiana State Legislature

Firearms in Privately Owned Vehicles

Locked-vehicle parking protections and the exceptions for restricted parking areas.

Louisiana State Legislature

Firearm Preemption

Limits on parish and municipal firearm regulation.

Louisiana State Legislature

Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Constitution, Article I, Section 11, and its strict-scrutiny standard for firearm restrictions.

Louisiana State Legislature

Use of Force or Violence in Defense

Non-homicide self-defense and defense-of-property justification, presumption, and no-duty-to-retreat rule.

Louisiana State Legislature

Justifiable Homicide

Deadly-force justification, dwelling/business/vehicle presumption, and no-duty-to-retreat rule.

Louisiana State Legislature

Limitation of Liability for Use of Force

Civil immunity and attorney-fee-shifting for a person found to have used justifiable force under R.S. 14:19 or 14:20.

Louisiana State Legislature

National Firearms Act

Federal registration and transfer rules for NFA firearms.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Louisiana Gun Law FAQ

How old do you have to be to buy a gun in Louisiana?

Louisiana bars a sale for value to anyone under eighteen regardless of firearm type. A federal dealer generally may sell a rifle or shotgun starting at eighteen but must wait until twenty-one for a handgun.

[5][17]

Can you carry a concealed gun without a permit in Louisiana?

Generally yes if you are at least eighteen and not prohibited. Permitless carriers must follow the restrictions incorporated from the concealed handgun permit law.

[2][3]

Are private gun sale background checks required in Louisiana?

Not generally for an occasional same-state transfer between eligible residents. Interstate transfers ordinarily require an FFL.

[6][16]

Is open carry legal in Louisiana?

Generally yes for a person who may lawfully possess the firearm, subject to restricted locations and conduct rules.

[2][4]

Can you carry a handgun in a vehicle in Louisiana?

Generally yes if you are eligible, but school, alcohol, prohibited-person, private-property, and other location rules still apply.

[2][3][8][9]

Do you need a license to carry a rifle or shotgun in Louisiana?

No. R.S. 14:95 governs concealment of any firearm, not just handguns, so an eligible adult may carry a rifle or shotgun openly or concealed without a permit the same way a handgun is carried; only the optional statewide permit program is built specifically around handguns.

[2][3]

Does Louisiana have a waiting period to buy a gun?

No general state waiting period applies, although an FFL must complete the required background-check process.

[4][18]

Are suppressors legal in Louisiana?

Generally yes when federally registered and otherwise lawfully possessed; Louisiana's NFA provisions generally track federal registration.

[12][20]

Does Louisiana limit magazine capacity or ban assault weapons?

No general state magazine-capacity limit or assault-weapon ban applies.

[14][15]

Does Louisiana recognize out-of-state carry permits?

Louisiana recognizes a current permit held by a person at least twenty-one when the issuing state recognizes Louisiana permits. The visitor must follow Louisiana law, and an out-of-state permit does not authorize a Louisiana resident to carry in Louisiana; permitless carry may independently apply.

[1][3][2]

Can a felon possess a firearm in Louisiana?

Louisiana bars possession following specified felony convictions. Its state disability generally ceases after ten felony-free years measured from completion of sentence or supervision, but federal law may independently continue to prohibit possession; the conviction and any relief must be reviewed individually.

[4][22][18]

What disqualifies someone from owning a gun in Louisiana?

State law lists specified felony crimes of violence, burglary-related offenses, felony weapons and drug offenses, sex offenses, and certain not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity findings, while federal law independently prohibits categories such as prior felony conviction, unlawful drug use, certain mental-health adjudications or commitments, domestic-violence convictions or protective orders, and unlawful immigration status. The two lists overlap but are not identical, and either one can independently bar possession.

[4][22][18]

Is a bill of sale required for a private gun sale in Louisiana?

No general state law requires one for an occasional lawful private transfer, though a voluntary record can document the transaction.

[6][16]

How do you sell or transfer a gun in Louisiana?

An occasional intrastate sale to another eligible Louisiana resident generally needs no FFL or background check, but it is a crime to knowingly transfer a firearm to someone you know is prohibited, and a sale for value to a person under eighteen is separately barred. A transfer to an out-of-state resident ordinarily must go through an FFL in the recipient's state.

[6][5][16]

Must a permitless carrier tell a police officer about the handgun?

Yes when an officer approaches in an official manner or with an identified official purpose. The carrier must notify the officer, submit to a pat-down, and allow temporary disarmament.

[2][3]

Does permitless carry allow a handgun on a Louisiana school campus?

Generally no. Permitless carry creates an exception for concealed carry within the surrounding 1,000-foot firearm-free zone, and state law separately recognizes a firearm contained entirely within a vehicle, but those exceptions do not generally authorize carry on the campus or school bus.

[8][3]

Do you have to register a gun in Louisiana?

No. Louisiana does not maintain a general registry of ordinary rifles, shotguns, or handguns, and state preemption bars a parish or municipality from creating one. Federally regulated NFA firearms remain subject to separate federal registration.

[14][15][20]

Can a minor possess a handgun in Louisiana?

Generally no. R.S. 14:95.8 bars a person under eighteen from knowingly possessing a handgun on their person, with exceptions for supervised safety courses, range use, hunting, certain travel, home or permitted-property possession, and possession with written parental permission. The statute does not similarly restrict possession of a rifle or shotgun.

[7]

Can I buy a gun in Louisiana with an out-of-state ID?

A federal dealer generally may sell a rifle or shotgun to a resident of any other state if the buyer appears in person and the sale complies with the law of both states, but a dealer generally cannot sell a handgun to someone who does not reside in Louisiana. An out-of-state ID alone does not establish Louisiana residency for a handgun purchase.

[22][16]

How do you renew a Louisiana concealed handgun permit?

Louisiana State Police notifies permit holders roughly 120 days before expiration; a renewal application, including a new training certificate and a photocopy of ID, should be submitted at least 90 days before the five-year permit expires. Because renewal windows, fees, and late-renewal consequences can change, confirm current requirements on the State Police concealed-handgun page before a permit expires.

[1][3]

Is Louisiana a stand-your-ground state?

Yes. A person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and has a right to be in the place where force is used has no duty to retreat before using force or deadly force, and Louisiana law also presumes that belief was reasonable against someone unlawfully and forcibly entering an occupied dwelling, business, or vehicle.

[24][25]

Can I be sued in civil court after a justified self-defense shooting in Louisiana?

Louisiana grants civil immunity, not just a criminal defense, to a person who uses reasonable and apparently necessary or deadly force under R.S. 14:19 or 14:20, and a court must award attorney fees and costs to a defendant found immune. That immunity still requires a court finding, not an automatic outcome, so get individualized legal advice after any actual use of force.

[26]

Sources

Educational information only, not legal advice.

GunList does not provide legal advice and does not guarantee that this guide covers every law, exception, court ruling, or local ordinance. Laws and court orders can change quickly. Verify current requirements through official government sources or consult a qualified attorney before possessing, carrying, buying, selling, or transporting a firearm, or before relying on any self-defense or castle-doctrine provision.

Reading or using this guide does not create an attorney-client relationship with GunList, and GunList disclaims liability for any loss or harm arising from reliance on this content. A criminal-law justification for using force does not guarantee protection from civil liability; use-of-force outcomes are fact-specific and high-stakes, so consult a qualified attorney before acting.