Editor's Report

An Urgent Call to Former Members and those Who Never Joined the LSA

It's grand that we live in a State where our Second Amendment rights are relatively secure as compared to deep blue states like California and Massachusetts. However, this relatively security lulls our residents into a false sense of invulnerability. 

In truth, your LSA, and in particular your President, Dan Zelenka, and your Vice-President, Everett Baudean spend many, many hours behind the scenes speaking with legislators and working the committee rooms at the State Capitol. They literally fight daily for your rights. That is not hyperbole. Not one weekday passes that they are not on the phone speaking with your government representatives. And, by the way, all of us are unpaid volunteers.

What adds strength to their voices are active members of the LSA. Our membership has drastically fallen since John Bel Edwards left office. Many of you now assume that Governor Landry will not let anything bad happen to your Second Amendment rights. In fact, you are correct that Governor Landry is a STRONG supporter of your rights, but not all attacks are on the State level. New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Shreveport local governments, among others, attack your rights on a regular basis. And the LSA is there as a brick wall.

So, if your membership has expired or if you are one of the many people who just receive our emails and newsletter and who have never joined, please consider spending the $15 to join the LSA today.

• 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.

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Stories from the Field

LWFC Approves Notice of Intent for 2025 Louisiana Black Bear Hunting Season

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (LWFC) adopted a Notice of Intent (NOI) to conduct the next Louisiana black bear hunting season in December of 2025 in Louisiana Black Bear Management Areas 1, 2, and 4 with an increased number of total permits from 11 to 26. The action came during the commission’s March meeting Thursday (Mar. 6, 2025) in Baton Rouge.

“The ability to extend the 2025 black bear season to new areas and add additional permits are an attribute to not just the success of our black bear program, but also to the historic 2024 black bear season and the strength of our partnerships,” said LDWF Secretary Madison Sheahan. “This is truly an exciting time in Louisiana’s history and we are proud to be able to offer more hunting opportunity to Louisiana hunters.”

Louisiana held its first black bear hunting season in more than 35 years in December of 2024 exclusively in Bear Management Area 4, located in northeast Louisiana. A total of 10 bears were harvested.

This year’s hunt, which would be by lottery and administered by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), would expand to Bear Management Areas 1 and 2. The season would begin on Dec. 6, 2025 and run through Dec. 21, 2025.

Bear Area specific population estimates and vital rate data were used to determine the number of bear harvest permits to be issued. There will be eight permits issued in Bear Management Area 1, three permits in Bear Management Area 2, and 15 permits, including a Secretary’s permit, in Bear Management Area 4. This would be a total of 26 permits for the season. Cubs and females with cubs are not legal to harvest. A cub is defined as any bear less than or equal to 75 pounds.

Hunts will be restricted to properly licensed Louisiana residents by lottery. All successful applicants for the hunt will be required to attend a LDWF bear hunter training course.

Public comment on the NOI will be accepted through May 1 and can be submitted to LDWF Large Carnivore Program Manager John Hanks at [email protected], by mail to LDWF, P.O. Box 98000, Baton Rouge, LA, 70898-9000 or 318-343-8325.

The LSA urges our members to support this science-based approach to wildlife management by submitting a comment.

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Eyes on the Anti-Gunners

President Trump Signs Executive Order Protecting Second Amendment Rights

As we have reported over the entire length of the Biden administration, the ATF and the Justice Department were weaponized to harass lawful gun owners and to generally make our lives miserable. The left's theory is that if lawful gun owners could some how be made to give up their firearms, crime would cease to exist. I know it's stupid, but that is how they "think." 

But as they say, there is a new sheriff in town and boy has the worm turned. The entire gun industry was elated to hear the news that Kash Patel was confirmed as the new Director of the FBI. And, if that is not good enough news on its own, ABC News reported that their sources expect President Trump to name Director Patel as Acting-Director of the ATF. Be still my beating heart!

Attorney General Pam Bondi said, the justice department was worse that she expected. She fired the ATF's General Counsel who was "targeting gun owners." Again, that's no surprise to us. The Biden crime syndicate was always hostile to our Civil Rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

But perhaps the best news of all was President Donald Trump's  Executive Order protecting Second Amendment Rights.

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

     Section 1.  Purpose.  The Second Amendment is an indispensable safeguard of security and liberty.  It has preserved the right of the American people to protect ourselves, our families, and our freedoms since the founding of our great Nation.  Because it is foundational to maintaining all other rights held by Americans, the right to keep and bear arms must not be infringed. 

     Sec. 2.  Plan of Action.  (a)  Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General shall examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies (agencies) to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens, and present a proposed plan of action to the President, through the Domestic Policy Advisor, to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans.
     (b)  In developing such proposed plan of action, the Attorney General shall review, at a minimum:
          (i)    All Presidential and agencies’ actions from January 2021 through January 2025 that purport to promote safety but may have impinged on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens;
          (ii)   Rules promulgated by the Department of Justice, including by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, from January 2021 through January 2025 pertaining to firearms and/or Federal firearms licensees;
          (iii)  Agencies’ plans, orders, and actions regarding the so-called “enhanced regulatory enforcement policy” pertaining to firearms and/or Federal firearms licensees;
          (iv)   Reports and related documents issued by the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention;
          (v)    The positions taken by the United States in any and all ongoing and potential litigation that affects or could affect the ability of Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights;
          (vi)   Agencies’ classifications of firearms and ammunition; and
          (vii)  The processing of applications to make, manufacture, transfer, or export firearms.

     Sec. 3.  Implementation.  Upon submission of the proposed plan of action described in section 2 of this order, the Attorney General shall work with the Domestic Policy Advisor to finalize the plan of action and establish a process for implementation.

     Sec. 4.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
          (i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or
          (ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
     (b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
     (c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

Adam Kraut who is Executive Director of the Second Amendment Foundation said, “It is reassuring that after four long years of the executive branch assaulting our Second Amendment rights that the Trump Administration is investigating avenues to undo the damage inflicted by the prior administration.”

Alan Gottlieb, Chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said, “We are particularly grateful to see he is directing the Attorney General to examine all orders, regulations and other actions taken by the Biden administration affecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding American citizens during Joe Biden’s entire term in office.” 

President Trump’s executive order covers all actions during the period from January 2021 through January 2025 pertaining to firearms and/or federal firearms licensees. The order focuses on rules promulgated by the Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives during that time period, and also directs the Attorney General to review reports and related documents issued by the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which President Trump has abolished. 

“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris waged war on American gun owners and the Second Amendment for four long years,” Gottlieb recalled, “treating the right to keep and bear arms like a government-regulated privilege. That ended January 20, and we are looking ahead to actions by the Trump administration which will reverse Biden’s policies and correct the harm he has done.”

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Legislative Update

Plaintiffs Seek Summary Judgment in Post Office Carry Case

Imagine that you are legally carrying a concealed firearm driving your wife on her afternoon errands. She says, "I need stamps. Let's drop by the post office." The second your tires cross that imaginary line between the public road and the parking lot of the post office, you are in violation of the ban against carrying a firearm on postal property. This also means that if you leave your gun in the car and walk into the post office, you are committing a crime. 

Attorneys representing a group of plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging the general ban on firearms carry in post office facilities have filed a brief supporting their motion for a summary judgment in the case filed in the US District for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division. In the 22-page brief, the plaintiffs argue,

"The Founders did not bar carriage of firearms in Post Offices. Instead, they regulated the improper, threatening, and violent use of weapons in Post Offices. Later generations confirmed this historical tradition by protecting mail carriers with bounties and facilitating carriage, not banning firearms. Post Offices have been a feature of our country from before we were a country, and concerns about threats to Post Offices are as old as Post Offices themselves. Congress passed no restrictions on the carriage of firearms in US Post Offices during the Founding era, suggesting that the Carry Ban is unconstitutional."

Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation said, Post offices are public buildings, open to the people, and should not be considered 'sensitive' places barring law-abiding citizens from peaceably carrying arms for personal protection. As we note in our brief, our proposed course of conduct - licensed carry on postal property - falls within the Second Amendment plain text."

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News from the LSA

Annual Meeting of Members and Elections

Each year, the Louisiana Shooting Association holds its Annual Meeting of Members and the Election of one-third of the Board of Directors. This year's meeting was held on Sunday, February 16, 2025 at Cabela's in Gonzales.

Following the election of the Directors by the Members, the Officers of the corporation are selected by the Board from the sitting Directors. Each Director is elected for a three-year term (Alternate Directors are elected for a one-year term) and Officers are elected for a one-year term.

The 2025 Board is composed of:

President: Daniel E. Zelenka, II (Director term ends 2028) 
Vice-President: Everett Baudean (2028)
Secretary: Dwayne Vidrine (2027) 
Treasurer: Jay D. Hunt, III (2027) 
Director-at-Large: Barret Kendrick (2028)

Directors:
Clayton Borne (2028)
Michael Burke (2027)
James Davis (2027)
Ron Duplessis (2027)
Clifford Grout (2026)
Joseph “Jay” Meynier (2026)
John Overton (2026)
George Petras (2026)
Dave Ramey (2026)
Robert Stewart (2028)

Alternate Director
1st Alternate: Samuel Beane (2026)
2nd Alternate: Bruce A. Lemmert (2026)

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Garand Raffle for Junior Shooters

Get your 2025 M1 Garand Raffle Tickets!

Tickets for the 2025 M1 Garand Raffle to Support Junior Shooting programs in the State are now available. The drawing will be held October 18, 2025. Winner need not be present to win.

All donations stay here in Louisiana and are spent solely on Junior Shooting programs.

Buy Raffle Tickets

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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.

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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 would like to donate to the LSA, please click here.

If you would like to donate to the Junior Shooting Fund, please click here.

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