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Bobby Jindal Enabled Louisiana's Gun Violence Problem

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Governor Bobby Jindal suspended his sputtering presidential campaign on Friday, a day after 59-year-old gunman John Houser killed two people and wounded nine others in a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. "We’re going to do whatever we can to support our community here," he said on Fox News. "This is a time for us to come together."

He should do a lot more than that. Louisiana has some of the weakest gun laws and worst gun violence in the nation.

The state doesn't require background checks on private sales, even for assault weapons; doesn’t require gun owners to register their firearms; and doesn't have a limit on the number of firearms that can be purchased at one time, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. As for gun violence, the state has the second-highest gun death rate in the nation, according to an analysis of the latest National Vital Statistics report. Louisiana's lax oversight also enables firearms trafficking to other states, in which it ranks fifteenth in the nation, and 28 percent of guns wind up in criminals' hands within two years of sale—almost six points above the national average.

Jindal has worked to weaken the state’s already lax gun control by signing a wave of bills in 2013 and 2014. He broadened the "Stand Your Ground" law to protect shooters who hurt, but don’t kill, someone they feel is threatening. He allowed concealed weapons in places that serve alcohol. He banned public access to the personal information of concealed handgun permit owners. He approved guns in churches. And he allowed Louisianans to apply for lifetime concealed-carry permits.

So don't expect from Jindal the type of comments that Barack Obama delivered after last month's massacre in a Charleston, in which the president said, "Now is the time for mourning and for healing. But let's be clear. At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries."

 Jindal called Obama's remarks “completely shameful”—words that more appropriately describe the governor's own gun policies.