By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
In a party-line Monday night vote of 18-5, the Indianapolis City-County Council adopted a new gun control package adding restrictions on gun owners, but there is just one problem.
The measure cannot be enforced because it is prohibited by Indiana’s preemption statute, which bars local governments from adopting their own gun laws, as noted by Fox News. Essentially, it is a symbolic gesture, pushed by Democrat Mayor Joe Hogsett. The package is known as Proposal 156.
The Indianapolis Star is reporting the plan was announced in May “as part of a sweeping response to gun crime.” The two-part package was described as Hogsett’s “gun violence prevention plan.”
Underscoring the symbolic nature of the scheme’s adoption, Hogsett issued a statement following the vote: “Tonight we are sending a clear message of where we stand about the causes of gun violence and the proliferation of illegal weapons on our streets.”
The Indy Star noted in its report that the plan “cannot take effect due to a 2011 Indiana law preventing cities from regulating guns.”
The measure—if it could be enforced—would ban so-called “assault weapons,” ban handgun carry without a permit (Indiana is a Constitutional Carry state), prohibit the carrying of a concealed firearm in Marion County and bar firearm sales to anyone under age 21 (the state minimum is age 18).
Recently, Hogsett’s Republican challenger Jefferson Shreve issued a statement criticizing the gun control package, according to WTHR.
“In 2015,” Shreve said, “Joe Hogsett ran as the public safety mayor. Over the past eight years, Indianapolis has reached record-breaking levels of violence and homicides. Our city is not getting safer as Mayor Hogsett says. The number of murders in 2022 is nearly double what it was when he took office, and this year is on track to be our deadliest yet.”
Shreve described Hogsett’s plan as “another one of his toothless initiatives; an election year stunt and a slap in the faces of veteran police officers.”
Republicans on the city-county council predictably opposed the Hogsett package. Council Minority Leader Brian Mowery, quoted by the Indy Star, told his colleagues, “I’m voting against this because I disagree with the toothless language and the policy itself, but also because it likely violates state statute and the state constitution.”
Article I, Section 32 of the Indiana Constitution states, “The people shall have a right to bear arms, for the defense of themselves and the State.”
