I have to begin by noting that a recent trip to the United States was planned well before a particular reality television star called the White House home for the next few years.
If you admit you鈥檝e recently visited our neighbour to the south, any stories must proceed with a warning: 鈥淚 booked it before all of this!鈥� Recently, I spent a few days in the south - notably New Orleans. The current political climate aside, the city, people, food, music, and culture all make it a city I would most certainly return to visit: it鈥檚 beautiful, historic, and vibrant, with kind, warm and friendly people, delicious food to delight the senses and jazz truly filling every street corner.
What surprised me the most wasn鈥檛 political rhetoric tossed around, calls of 鈥測ou鈥檙e the 51st state!鈥� being flung when I mentioned I was Canadian (it only happened once) but perhaps not-so-surprisingly, the guns.
I should provide some context.
On many previous trips to the U.S., I have seen guns out and about in many ways. While still disturbing, I鈥檝e accepted that walking through a Target parking lot in Tampa, no one but this Canadian seems to be stunned with shotguns on display in car trunks while putting bags of groceries away. Different laws, different cultures, different values. I get that.
Let鈥檚 save that debate for another time.
But this trip was different. And I鈥檓 not talking shotguns. Machine guns were stationed on Louisiana State Troopers, police officers and security guards. There were more than 2,000 law enforcement officers with riffles just in the French Quarter alone (for context it鈥檚 about 2km2). About every 10m, there was an officer with an assault rifle. Many times, they were in groups of three or four.
That鈥檚 not including SWAT teams and Secret Service, FBI, Louisiana State Police, New Orleans Police and the U.S. National Guard.
Walking along the riverfront, the U.S. Coast Guard had boats with machine guns at the ready, patrolling the waterfront. Police helicopters flew overhead every few minutes.
From an outsider鈥檚 perspective looking in, this could be easily considered a police state, but nobody seemed to blink an eye. It鈥檚 normal - it鈥檚 what happens. It鈥檚 what has to happen.
And I understand the heightened concern. This was the week leading up to Super Bowl 59. This was just over a month after the deadly Bourbon Street New Year鈥檚 Day attack in the area. This was the first time a sitting president was attending the big game.
There were thousands of people out and about in the heart of the city and the French Quarter was part of an enhanced security zone. And I get it - you never know who might be around you, or what they might be planning.
In March 2024, Louisiana鈥檚 governor signed into law a bill that allows anyone over 18 years old who may legally possess firearms to carry a firearm concealed in public without a license or permit; this includes carrying the concealed gun into the enhanced security zone. But you can鈥檛 take your gun into a bar, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters earlier in the month.
鈥淏ooze and firearms don鈥檛 mix,鈥� she added.
But outside of the 20-something beer-chugging guys stopping to take selfies with the officers, it just seemed like a regular party in the Big Easy.
鈥淭his Super Bowl exemplifies how we come together to safeguard our traditions 鈥� The world is a much more dangerous place, but here in the homeland we are safe,鈥� said Kristi Noem, the U.S. secretary of homeland security told a briefing leading up to the Super Bowl.
Here in the homeland, we are safe. Those are very strange words that I would like to believe. But rubbing shoulders with an armed officer doing crowd control by pointing a machine gun slightly to the left to get people onto a sidewalk doesn鈥檛 quite impart a sense of 鈥檚afety,鈥� at least, in the traditional sense.
Neither does carrying a concealed gun into a crowd of thousands, but I鈥檓 getting (slightly) off-topic.
I can鈥檛 even begin to picture the collateral damage even one of those machine guns would do if fired at a crowd of revellers on Bourbon Street. I understand the need for security, for protection, for optics, for the unpredictable.
鈥�(Seeing armed soldiers) is crazy on every block,鈥� Chiefs receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster told media. 鈥淏ut I love it, though. To be protected is nice. It鈥檚 very important.鈥�
It was important. And thankfully the Super Bowl festivities remained safe.
But that doesn鈥檛 mean it鈥檚 normal.
Erin Haluschak is the regional multimedia editor, North Vancouver Island for Black Press Media.
