Louisiana ranks 2nd behind Mississippi in gun death rate; largest weapons distributor in US thriving in Baton Rouge
Seven dead in Buffalo; 21 killed in Uvalde, 7 more fatalities at Highland Park. The killing, it seems, never stops, never slows, as America more and more becomes an angry nation with its citizens harboring personal demons and innocent bystanders caught in the middle.
It makes no sense. It’s insanity. It’s some sort of fetish for assault weapons on the part of serious demented individuals.
Yet, with all the mass killings elsewhere, Louisiana has the SECOND-HIGHEST gun death rate in the US, according to a story in the Louisiana Illuminator, the only publication I’ve seen that published the grim statistics.
Let that sink in. We’re killing each other at an alarming rate, in random acts of one-on-one slaughter. Enough that our murder rate of 26.3 per 100,000 population ranks only behind that of Mississippi’s 28.6 per 100,000.
That’s Mississippi, the state that also boasts the highest infant mortality rate, the nation’s highest poverty rate, the nation’s worst nutrition, that ranks AMONG THE WORST in the nation in pre-natal care and where the governor recently declared June 2022 as “SANCTITY OF LIFE MONTH.”
But let’s get back to Louisiana and that Illuminator story, written by Wes Muller.
Muller correctly points out that while some states have attempted to enact stricter gun control laws, Louisiana’s moribund legislators have seen fit to do little other than approve a resolution to study the pros and cons of arming school employees (the biggest and overriding con that I can come up with is children being caught in the crossfire of a Dodge City shootout between a panicky teacher and a deranged killer who doesn’t give a damn about his own life.)
And I won’t even get into a discussion about the macho hillbilly Green Beret wannabe who wrote in to assure me that he would have my back in such a scenario.
In order, the top five (or should that be the bottom five) in gun-related death rates are: Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Alabama.
There you have it. Five states with the most lax gun laws in America and three are from the Deep South where they things like “You kin have mah gun when you pry it from mah cold, dead hands,” and “Praise John Wayne and pass the ammo.”
But not to worry. Baton Rouge just happens to boast the single largest weapons distributor in the nation, though it’s not known if any of the weapons used in Buffalo, Uvalde, or Highland Park were sold here.
Lipsey’s, located in Baton Rouge, bills itself as “one of the largest independently-owned shooting sports distributors in the country offering a full catalog of firearms,” though other sources insist that it is the largest. That “full catalog” includes companies like Daniel Defense, Century Arms, Wilson Combat, Colt, H&K, and Barrett, all of which offer AR-15s like those used in recent mass shootings.
Five 18-wheeler truck-size cargo bays off I-10 in the Industriplex allow for the loading and dumping of more civilian assault weapons into our country than any other private enterprise.
The founder of Lipsey’s is Richard Lipsey, who formerly sat as chair of the Louisiana Board of Regents for Higher Education. His daughter Laura Lipsey Aronson is now the Chairwoman and CEO of the family business and like her father before her, serves on the LSU BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
A caller on the local NPR affiliate radio talk show asked Mr. Lipsey two important and concise questions. (1) “Would you support a ban on military assault weapons? “(2) Would you assess a small fee on the price of guns at the distributor level to fund mental health initiatives?”
He answered “no” to the ban on assault weapons while launching into a nostalgic history of military weaponry, citing AR-15s converted into “modern sporting rifles.” His dismissive response to the second question was that he was absolutely against “taxing our gun owners” for mental health funding, wryly suggesting instead that maybe we could “tax toothbrushes or milk.”
An organization called 10,000 Women Louisiana recently sent the following letter to Laurie Lipsey Aronson asking that Lipsey’s cease distribution of the AR-15 weapon:
Dear Ms. Aronson:
We are asking for your help. We recognize that you hold an important leadership role as the Chairwoman and CEO of Lipsey’s LLC., the largest firearm distributor in America. Your actions can set the standard for other gun distributors, retailers and elected officials.
Given the recent traumatic AR-15 gun violence tragedies around the country, we ask you to consider what you can do as a mother, a community leader and as a recognized philanthropic business leader.
We ask Lipsey’s to stop the distribution of automatic and semi-automatic (assault-style) weapons created for the military. You personally can change whether civilians can acquire these weapons, magazines and ammunition that are being used for the murder of innocent children and adults. We understand that Lipsey’s also distributes or sells to government and law enforcement entities, both domestic and foreign. Our intent is to ban access to the weapons, magazines and ammunition to the general population.
Your swift action could decisively change the national availability of these weapons. You alone could have a profound effect on the safety of our communities. Additionally, your role as the President of the Board of the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers (NASGW) and the Board of Governors of the National Shooting Sports Foundation gives you a unique opportunity to shift the narrative for this industry. In your role on the LSU Board of Supervisors, we ask that you consider the issue of gun safety for educational institutions.
We the undersigned friends, neighbors, community leaders, advocates and citizens implore you to take action barring access to military-style weapons for purchase by the general public. Please make a public statement about how Lipsey’s can help address the gun violence epidemic.