Pending Indiana Firearms Legislation
A great artricle in the Fort Wayne paper on pending proposals that advance gun rights in the Indiana Legislature. The key points are no-retreat, firearms locked in a car on company property and lifetime carry permits.
According to the article it looks like the gun locked in your car on company property is out but could be reinserted since the bill passed the house overwhelmingly before the section was chopped. I’m only marginally torn on this issue due to property rights concerns of the employer. But out of sight inside an employee’s car is also a property rights issue. A police officer cannot search your car without probable cause or your permission as if it were an extension of your home. So why should it be different for your boss? It’s still inside your car which is still a defacto extension of your house… On the flip side what if this were about a Muslim’s right to keep a Koran under the seat of their car in the employee parking lot of some Christian college? Would that change the thought process?
Amusingly, it would probably reverse both sides arguments but from a Constitutional perspecive the issue isn’t any different. One is protected by the First & Fourth Amendment, the other by the Second & Fourth. And in Indiana there is the 32nd Amendment to the Indiana Constitution which is in no way ambiguous about our firearms rights.
The no-retreat is one of those common sense things. While I would not advocate anyone confronting a burglar unprepared it is a persons right to do so. Though it may also be prudent to retreat to a defensible position before alerting the burglar that you’re about to offer him a life altering experience not everyone will have that capability especially apartment dwellers and small or open house designs that leave no place to retreat to. So this is ultimately going to be a good thing if it can get past the Senate.
Lastly, the lifetime carry permit I’d shell out for in a heartbeat. Imagine going online (yes, filing for new or renew online rather than having to bug your local LEO who has better things to do) and paying $100 ($125 if you don’t already have a valid permit) (Senate version seems to have different numbers) to make it “for life” as long as you don’t violate the law will be easily worth it since it’d cost that to cover the next 20-25 years anyway. I also wouldn’t expect the state to honor this for my lifetime as if they would so choose, or the Fed, they could easily pass some criminal law or make something criminal to invalidate all the lifetime permits. What is given by an act of congress can also be recinded by the same. But for now it’ll save some headache in paperwork and likely make the state some extra monies since I’m sure there would be a large number of people shell out for the “lifetime” that wouldn’t have renewed a periodic permit past the first renewal.
In further review of the version the Senate passed I found another intersting tidbit…
the period during which an application for the renewal of a handgun license may be filed begins 180 days before the license expires
I don’t know when it originally changed but the last time I renewed my permit I was told not to send the permit any more than 30 days in advance of the expiration or they’d send it back and not process it. That was news to me considering current law says:
If the application for renewal of an existing license is filed within thirty (30) days of its expiration, the existing license is automatically extended until the application for renewal is passed upon.
And I was concerned that the local LEO processing my application didn’t know that. By rejecting renewals with more then 30 days before expiration they are intentionally putting up obstacles and trying to catch us flat footed?
Anyway I was even more concerned when sending in the paperwork on 31st day to expiration I was expired for a couple of weeks before I got the renewal! While having a Judge dismiss it because the LEO didn’t know the law is better than going to jail it’s even better if the LEO’s at the local and state level know the laws they’re suppose to be enforcing especially when it comes to firearms in a firearms friendly state.
All said and done though, I’ve run into few LEO’s in this state that weren’t supportive of all the permit holders in Indiana. The ones that weren’t were either political or quite young with big “We’re the only ones professional enough… ” chips on their shoulders.
Further in the above linked Senate version of the bill I found three provisions being repealed:
Repeals provisions: (1) specifying a handgun buyer’s right to review and correct criminal history information; (2) establishing a criminal penalty for obtaining criminal history information under false pretenses; and (3) establishing a criminal history check fee.
While the 3rd item is good I have my qualms about the first two without seeing the wording. The thought that a person would loose their right of appeal on a purchase by being denied the right to review their record is scary. The second is probably to prevent mischief in 3rd parties doing background checks. Not also that I couldn’t find the actual language for these - only the text from the summary but it’s disturbing enough to find it there.
There are other goodies here in SB54 including replacing the state handgun transfer forms by allowing the dealer to send copies of the 4473’s to the state within 30 days and making the NICS trump state procedures:
the procedure required under the NICS prevails over the conflicting provision of this chapter
I have a problem with any system which puts the burden of proof on the individual to show he is not a criminal. Read the bill and let your legislators know what you think.