When I was growing up here in Louisiana, we learned early on to take responsibility for our family, our neighbors and ourselves. We hunt. We pray. We work hard. And we don’t expect the government to do for us what God gave us the responsibility to do ourselves.

God also gifted us the freest nation on His earth and moved our Founding Fathers to articulate our God-given rights in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. The Second Amendment found in those providential documents is not a suggestion. It’s a guarantee. And it doesn’t disappear because Washington decides it knows better than we do or because someone steps onto a college campus.

That’s why I authored House Bills 94 and 99 for the upcoming legislative session that starts on March 9^th.

HB94 is straightforward: the government should not be allowed to confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens without due process of law. No red flag laws. No secret lists. No bureaucratic shortcuts. No trading away constitutional rights for federal grant money.

If the government wants to take a citizen’s rights or property, it must prove its case openly, before a neutral judge, with full due process. That’s not extreme. That’s the rule of law in America.

HB99 is about something just as basic: the right of responsible adults to protect themselves on college campuses.

We send our sons and daughters into a world that is more dangerous than the one we grew up in. Violent crime doesn’t stop at campus boundaries. Evil doesn’t respect “gun-free zone” signs. And history shows that criminals seek out places where good people are disarmed.

This bill does not force anyone to carry a firearm. It does not arm criminals. It does not turn campuses into chaos. What it does is recognize reality: law-abiding adults who can legally carry everywhere else in Louisiana should not lose that right simply because they attend class, teach, work, or visit a college that receives public funds.

There are commonsense guardrails. Federal law still applies. Sensitive locations remain protected. Private property rights are respected. HB99 aligns campus policy with Louisiana law and Louisiana values—freedom paired with responsibility.

I hunt with my grandkids. I teach them respect for life, for the law and for the tools we use. Firearms aren’t toys. They are serious tools for defense and last-resort protection. The answer is responsibility, not disarming good people while criminals ignore the rules.

The Founders understood human nature and the danger of unchecked power. They trusted citizens more than government, and they were right.

These bills stand for faith in the people, not fear of them. For liberty, not control. For Louisiana, not federal overreach.

Now it’s time to act. I urge citizens across this state to make their voices heard. Call your legislators. Demand they defend the Constitution they swore to uphold. Freedom is not self-sustaining. If we don’t defend it now, we risk losing it for the next generation.

I won’t stop fighting. And neither should you.

Danny McCormick is the Louisiana State Representative for the First District, representing Caddo Parish. He is a founding member of the Louisiana Freedom Caucus