Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill will review a gun-free zone downtown around the Lafayette Science Museum to "make sure citizens' constitutional rights are being upheld."
Murrill, in a statement Tuesday, said she received a request from state Sen. Blake Miguez, R-New Iberia, about the gun-free zone at the museum in downtown Lafayette.
A gun-free zone designation prohibits the carrying of weapons within a 1,000-foot radius of a designated building, in this case the science museum at 433 Jefferson St.
"I have continuously expressed my concern with overzealous application of a statute that is necessarily narrow due to the state and federal constitutional constraints," Murrill wrote.
Lafayette Consolidated Government owns the museum, but entered an agreement in February 2022 under the administration of former Mayor-President Josh Guillory with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in which the university will operate the museum.
It was renamed the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Science Museum.
The museum is not on the university's main campus. It is on Jefferson Street, which is home to multiple restaurants and clubs. Crowds also are common in the area around the museum during Mardi Gras parades, Festival International de Louisiane and events at nearby parks.
UL officials maintain the building should be considered part of the university's campus and carry the gun-free zone designation.
Others argue the museum is not university property and the designation is so restrictive as to infringe on the rights of citizens to carry firearms.
In a letter dated Aug. 22 to Mayor-President Monique Boulet, Interim Police Chief Paul Trouard and university representatives, Lafayette attorney Joshua Barnhill, on behalf of Gun Owners of America, asked that they withdraw the "erroneous 'designation'" and remove signs and online maps.
The university's police department, he wrote, filed a notice Aug. 12 designating the science museum as gun and drug-free zone.
Barnhill, who is an officer in Guillory & Barnhill Title with the former mayor-president, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State database, asked LCG officials to comply with the group's request by the end of day Tuesday to remove signage and not enforce the gun-free zone designation or face a potential lawsuit.
City-Parish Attorney Pat Ottinger replied by letter Tuesday that he received the letter sent by U.S. mail Monday afternoon and would not have time to respond to each of the organization's assertions and statement under such an unreasonable deadline.
Miguez did not return a call requesting comment for this story.
LCG Chief Communications Officer Jamie Boudreaux did not return email messages asking whether the police department is enforcing the gun-free zone.