2026 February Newsletter
Editor's Report
Happy (Belated) New Year
I'm sure you've noticed that you have not received a newsletter from the LSA since October 2025. The reasons are myriad, but the bottom line is that my real day job was demanding, the holidays caused me to become one with my couch, and I was just plain lazy. But, alas, the new year calls and 2026 will likely be a busy legislative year both in Louisiana (our main focus) and outside of Louisiana.
We are working on some major changes for your LSA. First, we are planning to move the Louisiana Junior Shooting Program from under our direct control to form its own self-governing limited liability company (LLC). You may be asking, "Why?" The LSA is regulated by IRS rules under section 501(c)(4), which makes the LSA federally tax exempt, but not a charitable organization. This allows the LSA to conduct some limited political activity. If the LSA was regulated under 501(c)(3), we would be a charitable organization, but would be completely prohibited from any political activity.
The ideal situation would be that the LSA would be regulated under 501(c)(4) and the Junior Shooting Program would be regulated under 501(c)(3). This would allow the Junior Shooting Program to receive funds from other 501(c)(3) organizations like the NRA Foundation and the MidwayUSA Foundation. This would also allow you to deduct your donations from your federal taxes.
In 2026, we will continue to run the Junior Shooting Program as has been done so in the past, with one minor change. We are going to raise the cost of M1 Garand raffle tickets from $1.00 to $5.00 each. This will help limit the numbers of tickets that must be printed, completed, and maintained for the year.
The second change we are planning is still too early to disclose, but the focus will be on our Concealed Carry Instructors throughout the State.
Also of note, the 2026 Annual Meeting of Members and Elections of the Board of Directors will be held a the Cabela's in Gonzales, LA on March 1, 2026 at 10:00 AM in the upstairs meeting rooms (at the top of the escalator). All are invited to attend. Members in Good Standing will be asked to vote on candidates for the Board as well as any proper business presented at the meeting. You may pay your membership dues at the door if you need to renew.
List of Officers and Directors
President: Daniel E. Zelenka, II (2028)
Directors:
Alternate Directors
The terms of those directors highlighted above are expiring.
Stories from the Field
Alaska-Yukon Barren Ground Caribou in Grizzly Country
by Jay D. Hunt, III
I have been told that the first step on the road to recovery from addiction is for one to admit one has a problem. So, I have a problem. There, I said it. I’m addicted. Not to drugs or alcohol and, no, not to buying guns. I mean, I am addicted to buying guns, but that’s not my problem. Well, it is a problem and one I probably should also work on before I’m broke. But the addiction that is relevant to this article is my addiction to hunting dangerous game. Come to think of it, my addiction to hunting dangerous game may eventually solve all my problems.
I’ve heard that many people can become addicted to crack cocaine on their first use, and I’m here to tell you I was immediately addicted to hunting dangerous game the very first time I heard the smack of a big bullet hitting a big shoulder. In my case that was a Hornady 300 grain XTP-Mag out of my Freedom Arms Model 83 in .454 Casull into the left shoulder of a big, old Cape Buffalo bull in the Zambezi River Delta in Mozambique. Several days later I repeated that feat selecting a much wider horned bull from a herd of 600 or so Cape Buffalo standing about 50 yards from me in a sea of tall grass with absolutely nothing to climb up or hide behind within 20 miles if the events got too sporty. Luckily, they didn’t.
Checking the Cape Buffalo off my bucket list was a thrill of a lifetime. And I WILL do it again sometime soon. But the event that really cemented my addiction was a nighttime hippopotamus hunt along the border of Kruger National Park in Mpumalanga, R.S.A. a few days later. I wrote about that hunt in the Q1 2018 issue of LSA Quarterly, so I won’t repeat the details here. I will remind the reader, however, that the hunt was short, violent, and ended when I put a Hornady 400 grain DGX bullet between the hippo’s eyes at 10 yards from my .450/400 Nitro Express double rifle when he was in full charge. Unfortunately, an annual trip to Africa just is not financially feasible; however, there are dangerous game hunting opportunities in North America with costs that are a fraction of the price of an African safari.
Eyes on the Anti-Gunners
Extreme NY Gun Laws Strike Again as NFL Player Arrested at LaGuardia Airport
New York’s draconian gun control laws have struck again with the arrest of NFL athlete Rasheed Walker at LaGuardia Airport after he properly declared a firearm in his checked luggage, an incident that underscores the continued anti-gun extremism in the state.
Walker, an offensive lineman with the Green Bay Packers, legally owns the firearm in Wisconsin, according to published reports. He was arrested after declaring the handgun and ammunition to a Delta Air Lines employee at as he checked in for a flight. His attorney told the New York Post Walker did not realize he could not travel with the gun in New York. The gun was locked in a gun box inside his checked baggage.
Once again, New York’s irrational gun control restrictions are creating legal nightmares for a U.S. citizen who obeyed the law by reporting the firearm in his luggage. Virtually anywhere else in the country, Mr. Walker could legally travel with his firearm by declaring it at check-in, but in New York they treat traveling gun owners like criminals thanks to a statute which should have been nullified decades ago by the Firearm Owner’s Protection Act of 1986.
New York lawmakers and law enforcement need a crash course on the Second Amendment and when they discuss gun control at the Legislature in Albany there should be at least one adult in the room who understands what the Supreme Court was telling them with the 2022 ruling in the Bruen case.
Instead, New York legislators have continued to react like spoiled children by not correcting the state’s notoriously regressive and restrictive gun control laws, so that citizens such as Mr. Walker would no longer have to put up with this tyrannical nonsense.
Walker is reportedly scheduled to appear in court on March 19, where his attorney, Arthur Aidala, predicted the case will be dismissed.
The charge should never have been brought in the first place and Walker should never have been arrested because the law is an abomination.
Legislative Update
How Gun Laws are Really Made
Think you understand self-defense laws? Think again. In this episode of Gun Talk Nation, Ryan Gresham sits down with Dan Zelenka, President of the Louisiana Shooting Association, to pull back the curtain on what really happens behind the scenes at state capitols, how gun bills live or die in committee, and what "castle doctrine" doesn't actually protect you from.
News from the LSA
LSA and Partners Win a Victory in District Court...Sort Of
Earlier this year, a three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the young adult handgun purchase ban was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment and remanded the case back to the district court for entry of a judgment to that effect. The judgment entered today limits the organizational membership relief to individuals who were members of the plaintiff organizations as of the filing of the case, on Nov. 6, 2020, and who are located within the geographical bounds of the Fifth Circuit (Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana). The judgment also requires that the organizations produce a list of those affected members within 21 days of the judgment.
“The practical effect of this order is almost laughable if it wasn’t so frustrating and didn’t impact the Second Amendment rights of thousands of individuals,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “What the court has done here is say that this law is unconstitutional, but in order for an 18-year-old to avoid having their constitutional rights trounced by it today they must live in one of only three states in the nation and have been the member of SAF at age 13. And even then, they’re only covered if SAF discloses their membership to the government under duress. We’re currently examining our options in relation to the relief granted and will vigorously defend our members’ right to free association and privacy of such.”
The LSA has absolutely NO PLANS to disclose our membership to the Government or to anyone else. This is our pledge to our members.
The LSA and SAF were joined in Reese v. ATF by the Firearms Policy Coalition, and three private citizens, Joseph Granich, Emily Naquin and Caleb Reese, for whom the case is named.
“Today’s Judgment in Reese challenges commonly accepted standards of associational standing and relief,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “SAF brings these cases on behalf of our members and through the generous support of our members. When we win, the relief we’ve secured rightly flows through to the entire membership and not just a small subset.”
Garand Raffle for Junior Shooters
Get your 2026 M1 Garand Raffle Tickets!
Tickets for the 2026 M1 Garand Raffle to Support Junior Shooting programs in the State are now available. The drawing will be held October 17, 2026. Winner need not be present to win.
---> Each ticket is a $5.00 Donation. <---
All donations stay here in Louisiana and are spent solely on Junior Shooting programs.
Future Events
The LSA maintains a calendar of events that may be of interest to gun owners, shooting competitors, and friends of the Second Amendment. To see a list of events, visit our Meeting/Events Information page.
Join, Renew, or Donate
As you are no doubt aware, the LSA has a new enterprise system for maintaining our membership files and records. If you are confused on how to join or renew, follow this simple checklist below.
- If you are a current member (or a member who has expired for less than 30 days), you can renew your membership here. You will log into your account and pay your dues.
- If your membership has lapsed by more than 30 days, you cannot log into the members areas to pay your dues. You must go through the same process as someone who is joining the LSA for the first time. To do that, click here and fill out the form. This is inconvenient, but it is a security feature so that non-members do not have access to the members area of the website. Sorry.
- If you want to join the LSA for the first time, click here. An annual membership is only $15 and your support helps to protect your Second Amendment Rights here in Louisiana.
- If you wonder if your membership has lapsed or is current, try logging into your account here. If you can't log in, you have probably been moved to the non-member section. You can also shoot me an email and I can confirm your information for you.
If you would like to donate to the LSA, please click here.
If you would like to donate to the Junior Shooting Fund, please click here.
