As crowds descend on Bourbon Street in the run-up to the Super Bowl, they'll be met by a layer of checkpoints aimed at enforcing new restrictions that state officials say will keep the crowds safe. But the new ring of defenses won’t keep out one of the deadliest weapons in America: the firearm.

“You can’t bring your cooler, but you can definitely bring your Glock,” quipped Arthur Hunter, a former state judge and former New Orleans police officer who has advised French Quarter businesses on safety issues.

The lack of gun restrictions, especially in the city's core entertainment district, is again drawing criticism in a city still reeling from the ramming attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people and injured dozens more on New Year’s Day. A state law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature last year allows anyone 18 or older without a criminal record to carry a concealed firearm without a permit.

The new rules took effect last summer, over opposition from New Orleans officials and police who sought to preserve rules that required a permit to carry a concealed weapon in the French Quarter. Those leaders have vowed to again seek an exemption when the Legislature meets this year, though lawmakers have shown little desire to go along with those requests.

The new French Quarter security measures include checkpoints staffed by the Louisiana National Guard or law enforcement, who will search bags larger than a small purse for illegal items such as explosives. Coolers, too, will be prohibited, since Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a radicalized IT worker from Houston who plowed down crowds with an F-150 in a premeditated killing spree, planted ice chests full of explosives on French Quarter streets before he was shot by police.

But “legally possessed firearms will not be restricted in the security zone,” State Police Sgt. Kate Stegall said.

There will still be some rules governing how weapons can be carried. State Police will be enforcing laws banning firearms in bars, casinos, government buildings and along parade routes, Stegall said.

Guns are also banned in the Caesars Superdome, in Champions Square and other areas within the security perimeter the NFL has set up for the game.

It is also illegal to carry a firearm while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, she said.

Police may still stop and question people they suspect of carrying a weapon negligently. A lack of a holster has been cited in some police reports as the rationale.

The New Orleans Police Department, whose leaders last year slammed the concealed carry law as harmful to officers' efforts to ensure public safety, said they will also enforce the rules. Asked how firearms would be treated in the French Quarter, NOPD officials said police “will continue to follow the laws of our state and enforce them accordingly.”

A coalition of city and business leaders were among those arguing the Quarter should retain firearm restrictions when the permitless carry proposal was being debated in the legislature. And after the law was passed, city officials unsuccessfully argued that the NOPD station on Royal Street should be considered a school, which would have allowed them to prohibit weapons from being carried nearby.

“While we have advocated for a carve out for the entertainment district under the constitutional carry law, those efforts have not been successful,” NOPD officials said in a statement. “Our focus now is ensuring that officers are prepared to respond swiftly and effectively to protect the safety of our residents and visitors.”

NOPD figures show arrests for illegal possession of a firearm are down 59% through Jan. 25 compared to the same period last year, before the law passed. Firearms seizures also were down, by 39% through Jan. 20.

Greg Rusovich, chairman of the nonprofit Metropolitan Crime Commission, said the coalition plans to return "very tenaciously" this year to again seek a carveout for the Vieux Carre, which he billed as a common-sense fix.

"Clearly we all understand we need to harden the French Quarter. The one area that's the easiest route (for violence) that we're not addressing is firearms," Rusovich said. "To me this defies common sense. It's just mind-boggling. The French Quarter is like an open bar."

Law enforcement sources said that a mass of local, state and federal law enforcement officers will be on hand in the French Quarter beginning on Monday. They include more than 300 members of the Louisiana National Guard, Louisiana State Police and other state agencies.

Like concealed carry, open carry of firearms is also legal. Law enforcement sources said people could potentially face arrest for inciting fear if they brandish firearms openly.

Dan Zelenka, president of the Louisiana Shooting Association, said that merely carrying around a handgun or a semi-automatic rifle such as an AR-15 doesn't qualify.

"If you're just be-bopping down the street and your AR is strapped on your back or across your chest, you're good to go. You're not breaking any laws," Zelenka said. "You have to do something. You have to menace somebody. If you're not waving it around, if it's just hanging on your chest, you're not doing anything."