Even as the nation contends with the loosening of federal gun laws, a lieutenant in a sheriff’s office in deep-red Louisiana has trained over 2,000 officers on how to keep firearms out of the hands of domestic abusers, and drafted proof-of-transfer forms that have been implemented by parishes around the state, the Trace reports. Lieutenant Valerie Martinez-Jordan, of the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office, started her work over a decade ago. “Because of Lieutenant Martinez, [on] Day One, we were ready to go,” Downey said. “We were ready with the forms, we were ready with policy — everything was completely ready. It’s really her passion that was spread across the state as far as gun laws.”
She began in 2009 by compiling a list of every resident with a domestic violence restraining order or conviction. Then she sent them notices saying that federal law prohibits them from owning firearms. Her sheriff’s office offered to help those who did own guns to relinquish them and created systems to flag newly convicted abusers. Martinez-Jordan helped to draft relevant state legislation that passed in 2018. After that, her unit notified over 40 licensed gun dealers in its area about a new requirement to inform police of background check denials. Between November 2022 and June 2024, those local gun dealers notified the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office of 384 background check denials for attempted gun purchases. “For us, it’s just like riding traffic tickets now,” she said. “It’s just part of what we do.”