PA Bill Number: HB2311
Title: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program.
Description: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program. ...
Last Action: Laid on the table
Last Action Date: Sep 23, 2024
Constitutional Carry: Indiana bill aims to eliminate requirement for gun permits :: 12/19/2016
If some gun-rights advocates have their way, Indiana may become the next state to let people carry handguns without a license — but area lawmakers and law enforcement officials still have plenty of unanswered questions about the proposal.
Don Catanzarite, of Granger, fires a handgun Thursday at Kodiak Firing Range & Training Facility in South Bend. Tribune Photo/ROBERT FRANKLIN
State Rep. Jim Lucas, a Seymour Republican, is leading the push for Indiana to join the 11 states that already allow so-called "constitutional carry." Supporters say repealing the requirement for handgun permits would take away barriers to Second Amendment gun rights.
Last month, Lucas told the Indianapolis Star that he wanted to "decriminalize" the constitutional right to carry firearms. Supporters, including the National Rifle Association, say the licensing requirement and associated fees impede people from exercising their rights.
The legislation saw little movement during the 2016 session. However, the Star reported that could change this year, with even greater Republican majorities at the Statehouse and the appointment of a strong gun-rights supporter to chair the committee that would likely hear the bill.
But skeptics have concerns that the measure is unnecessary and could have unintended consequences for public safety and the police who work to keep guns out of the wrong hands.
"I think it proliferates folks who shouldn't have guns to be able to have guns," said St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter, a Democrat. "If there were no handgun law, there would be no way — unless a person had already committed a crime using that gun — for us to be able to determine whether they should have had that gun."
If a person were not required to have a license to carry a handgun, Cotter said, police would lose a way to quickly get information about a person discovered with a concealed weapon during a traffic stop or other encounter.
Because licenses are now required, a police officer may legally ask a person found with a weapon to produce their permit. Police would lose that ability if the licensing requirement were repealed, Cotter said.
A valid handgun license also immediately shows a police officer that a person does not have a felony conviction, history of violence, certain mental illnesses or other factors that could signal danger, said LaPorte County Sheriff John Boyd, a Republican.
Without the licensing requirement, an officer would need to run a lengthier background check to determine if someone is lawfully carrying a handgun during an encounter with police, Boyd said. That may be impossible in some cases because police are limited in how long they may keep someone waiting without probable cause to detain them, he said.
"In dealing with the public, we're working against the clock," Boyd said, "and if it's very time-consuming, we may have to let someone go before we find out they're the subject of a protective order or a convicted felon."
Lucas has noted that anyone who cannot legally carry a handgun under current state law, such as a convicted felon, would still be prohibited from carrying one under his proposal.
And although critics say repealing the licensing requirement could increase the number of guns on the streets that could be used in violent crimes, supporters of so-called "constitutional carry" argue that the existing law does little to deter criminals who are determined to get guns.
"You're not going to have more criminals with guns," said John Pemberton, the manager and chief instructor at Kodiak Firing Range & Training Facility in South Bend. "They already have them or they're going to get them illegally."
Through the first three quarters of 2016, police denied licenses to 2,044 people who were deemed unfit to carry handguns, according to Indiana State Police statistics.
In all, 753,974 people had active Indiana handgun licenses through the third quarter of this year, according to the state police figures. Of the almost 30,000 people who applied for licenses, more than 27,000 were granted.
The push to abolish handgun licensing is drawing mixed reactions from area legislators.
State Sen. David Niezgodski, a Democrat who represents much of South Bend and Mishawaka, said he has concerns about public safety and the financial impact on police departments from the loss of licensing fees. If lawmakers were to repeal the licensing requirement, they should at the least require training for people who carry handguns, he said.
"I do think it would be great to have some form of training, but you can't just simply we're going to do away with the permitting process," he said. "I'm an advocate of the Second Amendment, but it does still nevertheless raise questions for me."
Republican state Rep. Dale DeVon, who represents parts of Mishawaka, Granger and Elkhart County, said he generally supported the idea of easing people's ability to defend themselves and exercise their rights. But he added that he would take an open-minded approach to any debate over handgun licenses.
DeVon said he was aware of law enforcement officials' concerns about the idea, and that he recognized the need to keep handguns out of the wrong hands.
"We need to continue to look at ways to eliminate criminals from carrying guns, but how do you know who the criminal is when they've never committed a criminal act?" he said. "It will create an interesting debate. People will be passionate about it on both sides."
The greatest fiscal impact would affect police and sheriff's departments, which use revenue from licensing fees to help pay for officer training and equipment. The state's nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency estimated police agencies around the state could lose nearly $4 million generated by local handgun permit fees.
In LaPorte County, for example, handgun license fees pay for all of the handguns, rifles and shotguns issued to county police officers, Boyd said, along with some "less lethal" munitions such as beanbag rounds The fees also help offset the cost of ammunition for training at the department's gun range.
The financial impact for police departments would vary depending on the number of license applications they process. In South Bend, city police this year have processed more than 900 licenses, Chief Scott Ruszkowski said. That could generate as much as $45,000, as fees range from $10 for four years to $50 for a lifetime permit.
