State Rep. Barbara Norton’s HB 67, which would outlaw supplying a child with a fully automatic gun, has seen its end after today’s vote. The bill in its original form punished those who allowed a child under the age of 12 access to an Uzi submachine gun specifically, with a fine up to $5,000 or up to 6 months in jail. The Hayride has already touched on how ridiculous this bill is. Well, was.

Norton, a democrat from Shreveport, first proposed this bill last year but it didn’t make it out of committee. This is the same woman who basically trash-talked our Founding Fathers last year, asserting that the Declaration of Independence is “not the truth” because “all men are not created equal.” And that school children shouldn’t have to learn it because it would be “unfair” for them. That alone tells us everything we need to know about her. She’s been in office for nearly 10 years now and this can’t be the best she can come up with.

In any event, the original version of the bill, discriminatory as it was toward Israeli firearm manufacturers, was amended to broaden its scope past the Uzi gun and include all machine guns. Sadly for Norton, that still didn’t do the trick. The bill was shot down 61-21, with 23 members opting to skip the vote altogether. That’s right – there were more people who chose not to show up than who voted in favor of it. Would it have been a waste of time? Apparently so.

It isn’t a radical thought that we have more pertinent issues to deal with here in Louisiana. The hours spent drafting, amending, discussing, and voting on this bill could have and should have been devoted to a more important and practical cause. One doesn’t necessarily have to support handing over an AK-47 to a child to lack confidence this is a responsibility the state government needs to commandeer.

It’s a little frightening that 21 of our state House members, one of whom is a Republican, have a different opinion. Those voting for the bill…

John Bagneris (D-New Orleans)
Robert Billiot (D-Westwego)
Joseph Bouie (D-New Orleans)
Barbara Carpenter (D-Baton Rouge)
Kenny Cox (D-Natchitoches)
A.B. Franklin (D-Lake Charles)
Randall Gaines (D-LaPlace)
Cedric Glover (D-Shreveport)
Jeff Hall (D-Alexandria)
Jimmy Harris (D-New Orleans)
Frank Howard (R-Many)
Marcus Hunter (D-Monroe)
Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe)
Patrick Jefferson (D-Shreveport)
Sam Jenkins (D-Shreveport)
Rodney Lyons (D-Harvey)
Norton (D-Shreveport)
Vincent Pierre (D-Lafayette)
Ed Price (D-Gonzales)
Gene Reynolds (D-Minden)
Pat Smith (D-Baton Rouge)