Indiana General Assembly considers bills to reform the police and bills to halt change Elizabeth DePompei, Indianapolis Star
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For the first time since civil unrest erupted in Indianapolis and elsewhere across the country in response to police killings of Black Americans, the Indiana legislature is considering measures that would impact policing in the state.
The deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis, along with Dreasjon Reed and McHale Rose in Indianapolis, all at the hands of police, resulted in demands to reform policing everything from banning chokeholds to defunding police departments.
The four officers involved in Floyd s death face criminal charges. Earlier this month, the Marion County Prosecutor declined to file charges in Rose s death. And in Reed s case, a grand jury declined to indict the officer who fatally shot him.
Paul Helmke, former president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, agreed.
“Indiana already does too little to keep loaded guns out of public places and out of the hands of dangerous people. This bill would make us all less safe,” the former Republican mayor wrote in an email.
No license is required to buy a firearm in Indiana, but one is required for open or concealed carry. Individuals with a conviction for a felony or misdemeanor domestic battery are ineligible, and a license can also be denied in other prescribed situations.
HB 1396 is one of four so-called “constitutional carry” bills proposed by the Republican supermajority, but this one is authored by Auburn Republican Ben Smaltz and co-authored by Rep. Matt Lehman, R-Berne, two powerful members of the House majority. Smaltz is chairman of the House Public Policy Committee, where his bill is assigned and was scheduled to be heard Wednesday. Ironically, the session was canceled over concerns for violence sp
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