INDIANAPOLIS — Both gun control and gun rights advocates reacted to the gun violence over the New Year’s holiday throughout Indianapolis on Monday.
Both agreed proposed legislation on the table is most likely a non-starter next session.
Last month, the Giffords Law Center gave Indiana a D- for failing to pass gun control legislation it says could save lives. Even with a violent start to the new year in Indianapolis, Hoosiers we spoke to said it’s unlikely new gun control bills on the table will pass.
”It’s sad, obviously, but it’s also just part of American life,” said Indianapolis resident Ryan Reed.
According to Reed, he’s no stranger to the effects of gun violence.
“I know there’s been a lot of people that I was raised around who aren’t here or are doing time, but yeah,” Reed said.
Two Democrat-sponsored bills seek to reduce gun violence next session. Senate Bill 24 would change the minimum age to carry a gun from 18 to 21, and Senate Bill 95 would allow cities to create their own gun control laws. Jerry King, the president of Hoosiers Concerned About Gun violence, said both bills are a modest but important step in the right direction.
”We think that the more success that a community has in limiting people’s access, utilization of guns, reliance on guns…the better it is,” King said.
But Second Amendment lawyer Guy Relford (who also founded the 2A Project) said both bills are most likely dead on arrival.
”The Indiana General Assembly does a nice job of applying a litmus test to different proposals, and saying, for instance, is this law, this proposed law really going to affect criminals and criminal activity, or is it only going to affect law-abiding citizens?” Relford said.
“We’re not really big on change, especially about guns, so it will be, you know, in like review or something for a few years but probably, it will get knocked down or something,” Reed said.
Another bill in the works would prohibit Hoosiers from carrying guns into polling places. However, Relford says there are already voter interference laws on the books to address that very issue, and that the bill, if passed, would infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens.
