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Sunday, February 20, 2011
Ind. Law - Review of some of this year's firearms legislation
It is okay with the City of Indianapolis if guns are allowed in city public parks and libraries, so long as they aren't allowed at Lucas Oil Stadium. That from this story Feb. 18th by Jeremy Brilliant of Eyewitness News - some quotes:
If Senate Bill 292 becomes law, guns could be carried on the Monon Trail, or brought to the Broad Ripple dog park. A city ordinance forbidding weapons at parks would have to make an exception for firearms. * * *From a story by Maureen Hayden of CNHI, published in the Feb. 16 Terre Haute Tribune Star:City officials are most concerned with allowing weapons at city-controlled venues like Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse, Victory Field and the newly expanded convention center. * * *
According to a city spokesman, Indianapolis does not oppose the bill in general, but is hoping if it's passed, it includes exemptions for those public venues including the stadiums and convention center.
“Wherever you are, it could be a library, a County Council meeting or any kind of social meeting, if there are people sitting in that room with concealed weapons permits and they’re packing, that’s the safest room in that building,” said state Sen. Johnny Nugent, a Republican from Lawrenceburg, and longtime gun-rights advocate, on Monday.An editorial today from the TribStar uses the same Nugent quote about "the safest room in that building" and then asks:Nugent thinks that would be so in the Indiana Statehouse as well, where visitors have been barred from bringing in weapons since 2007. Nugent is among a group of legislators who have a permit to carry concealed weapon, and often do so when the Legislature is in session.
If that is true, then why does the bill exempt schools and courtrooms?Yes indeed, "people that have a license from the state of Indiana that allows them to do this," but unfortunately we can't know who they are. That is because of a law the General Assembly enacted last year (see this Feb. 14, 2010 entry) making gun permit ownership secret - HEA 1068-2010.The Vigo County School Corp. recently began requiring people attending School Board meetings at the district’s central office to pass through a metal detector. Visitors’ purses and bags are also being searched. The local corporation took that proactive step after a man in Florida opened fire on a Panama City school board.
In this matter of public safety, a local school board — which has direct access to the advice of local law enforcement officials — should have the flexibility to implement policies to protect its employees, board members and the general public. Senate Bill 292, which now goes to the Indiana House, would prevent the VCSC from barring entry to a board-meeting visitor who is licensed to carry a concealed weapon. It would also allow people to bring weapons into hospitals.
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadesville, said the anxiety expressed by groups such as the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns is unnecessary. “We’re talking about legitimate citizens, people that have a license from the state of Indiana that allows them to do this,” Tomes told the Tribune-Star on Wednesday.
Also passed last year
was HEA 1065, the "take a gun to work bill," which is being amended this year by SB 411 to keep pesky employers from "asking their employees about any guns they might be keeping in their cars while at work."Another bill on this year's NRA list for Indiana is SB 506, which would allow a person to carry a handgun on or about the person's body without being licensed to carry a handgun if he is in his vehicle. One has to think this is designed to operate in conjunction with "take a gun to work." (More here in this Jan. 25, 2011 entry.)
Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 20, 2011 04:05 PM
Posted to Indiana Law