The Louisiana House Monday killed a measure that would have made it illegal to carry a concealed handgun without a permit 100 feet from a parade, second line or other permitted event.

Rep. Mandie Landry, a New Orleans Democrat, said House Bill 627 would have helped protect both paradegoers and law enforcement officers during Mardi Gras. It failed 39-57.

Carrying a concealed gun without a permit in general is currently illegal in Louisiana, but it will become legal under a law the legislature passed earlier this year. That law goes into effect July 4.

Several New Orleans law enforcement officials have said they’re worried that the concealed carry law will make it harder to stop people who are illegally carrying weapons. To stop and search someone, an officer is supposed to have “reasonable suspicion" that a person has committed a crime or is about to commit one.

Law enforcement often cites the appearance of a potential weapon beneath a person’s clothing in firearm arrests. During this Mardi Gras in New Orleans, law enforcement reported seizing 143 concealed handguns on or near parade routes.

The Louisiana Fraternal Order of Police were in support of the bill, according to Landry. The National Rifle Association (NRA) opposed it.

Though the vote was mostly among party lines, several Republicans voted in support of the bill. That included Rep. Chad Boyer of Breaux Bridge who also supported it in committee.

Boyer said he worked Mardi Gras as a state trooper and that “it’s hard to understand what you face every single day that you’re there.” He said he agreed with Landry that the bill would help protect law enforcement along the route.

“I always said that I would do everything that I possibly could to make sure that gentleman that is standing in that back door right now in that blue uniform can go home safe to his family,” he said.

Rep. Danny McCormick, a consistent opponent of gun limit, said he didn’t believe in parade route restrictions for “law-abiding citizens.” He said the permitless concealed carry law doesn’t apply to felons, and that a person who wanted to commit a crime with a gun would do so anyway.

“I don’t know why those law-abiding citizens are a threat,” McCormick said.

“It’s the gun that’s the threat,” Landry replied.

The vote came nearly a week after the House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice passed the bill 8-5 in a vote that surprised Landry herself.

“Mardi Gras is one of the most packed and unique events in the world,” she told Gambit in a statement following Monday's vote. “To put the one million visitors and law enforcement in danger because of politics is unconscionable.”