Opinion
Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- In Louisiana, Sheriff Randy Seal has been in office for over seven years. After winning his latest election on 12 October 2019, he switched parties from Democrat to Republican. He said:
“The Democratic Party left me. I didn’t leave them.”
His stated reasons for changing party affiliation were all about policies. Sheriff Seal specifically mentioned the Second Amendment.
After years in politics in Washington Parish as a Democrat, Seal, and his wife Sheila, walked into the parish registrar of voters office Monday and changed parties. Both are now Republicans.
Seal said he waited until after his Election Day win to change his affiliation, and is now the Republican sheriff of Washington Parish.
“I don’t like what’s going on in Washington,” Seal said. “Don’t care about abortion and Democrats support that. They are against the Second Amendment and I support the Second Amendment, and I am for closed borders. I think we ought to have rules. If we don’t have rules, we have chaos.”
The October 12th election was the primary election in Louisiana. If a candidate wins more than 50% in the primary, they are elected and do not have to defend their office in the 16 November general election. This was an off-year election in the primary. It drew record numbers of voters. The Republican party won a significant victory in the election. They won a supermajority in the Senate. They have a majority in the House. There are eight contested seats in the House. The Republicans need to win seven of those to win a supermajority in the House as well. Governor Edwards (D) failed to win a majority. He will be defending his office in the general election on 16 November. Sheriff Seal won 53% of the vote in the primary.
Washington Parish is a rural parish of about 47,000 population in Louisiana. The rural parish elections have been trending conservative; they have been gradually moving from traditional Democrat to Republican.
In 2016, Washington Parish voted for President Donald Trump by more than two to one. 5,692 votes were cast for Hillary Clinton; 12,556 votes were cast for Donald Trump, out of 18,628 votes total. President Trump received 67.4% of the vote; Secretary Hillary Clinton received 30.6% of the vote.
It may not have been a difficult decision to switch from decades of being a rural, conservative Democrat, to being a rural, conservative Republican.
Sheriff Randy Seal was correct when he said the Democrat party left him.
There is no issue where this is more clear than on support for the Second Amendment.
If Republicans gain the governorship in the general election in November, expect a strong run at passing Constitutional Carry in Louisiana.
Louisiana voted to enact a strong right to keep and bear arms state Constitutional amendment in 2012, with over 73% of the vote. The official text on the ballot read:
Do you support an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Louisiana to provide that the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right and any restriction of that right requires the highest standard of review by a court?[4]
Legislative reform to Constitutional Carry will only be enacted in a statute that the people have already voted into law as a state Constitutional amendment.
Infringements on the right to keep and bear arms are a losing proposition in Louisiana. The Democratic party has planted itself squarely against the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30-year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.