Shreveport, LA Business Licensing & Operations: Pawnbrokers (2026)

04(k), which lets the city regulate pawnshops, secondhand dealers and junk shops directly. Section 42-216 is the operative local requirement: pawnshops and pawnbrokers within the city must file a daily record with the police department of every transaction in jewelry, clothing, firearms, furniture, auto tires or accessories, and any other merchandise or junk. Since January 1, 2005, that daily record can no longer be kept on paper alone; it must be filed electronically to a law enforcement website designated as an agent of the police department for collecting these records, or in whatever other form the chief of police permits.

The section carries forward from Code 1971 § 25-1 and was last amended by Ord. No. 203, 2004. Licensing itself runs through the state: Louisiana Revised Statutes 37:1751-1762 govern who may operate as a pawnbroker, while the city's role layered on top is the daily transaction log, giving the police department a running paper trail on pledged goods that can be cross-checked against stolen-property reports. A related but distinct city rule, Section 42-217, separately defines and regulates general secondhand dealers (used jewelry, tools, electronics, building components and the like), carving out coin/currency dealers, licensed used-vehicle dealers, residential garage sales and 501(c)(3) charities from that broader secondhand-dealer definition; pawnbrokers as such remain governed by Section 42-216.