'Constitutional carry' signed into Indiana law - Seymour Tribune

Law-abiding Hoosier gun owners are no longer required to have a permit to carry a handgun within the state after Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill into law Monday.

House Bill 1296 states that the law requiring a permit to carry a handgun in Indiana is repealed and people who are not restricted from possessing or carrying a handgun do not need to obtain a permit from the state to do so.

It goes into effect starting July 1.

District 69 State Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, is a co-author of the bill and said getting the “constitutional carry” law passed has been a top priority of his since being elected in 2012.

Upon hearing Holcomb had signed the bill into law, Lucas said he celebrated.

“I poured a shot of my best bourbon and celebrated a 10-year effort by many, many people simply to return our rights to the Constitution where they belong,” he said.

State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter testified against the legislation in the Indiana Senate last month, saying the bill affects public safety and front-line police officers.

Because of Carter’s statements, Lucas said he didn’t expect the governor to sign the bill but rather become law from the support of the Republican supermajority in Indiana legislation.

Lucas said he is a “constitutional rights nut” instead of a “gun nut.”

“I always found it offensive that we have to pay the government a fee to exercise a constitutionally guaranteed right,” he said.

The state’s gun licensing program remains intact even after the requirement for a permit to carry a handgun is eliminated. Lucas encouraged Indiana gun owners to apply for the free permits so they can be recognized in other states that require them.

While the law is considered a victory for gun rights, Lucas said he doesn’t think there will be much of an impact after Holcomb’s signing.

“I don’t think people are going to notice,” he said. “Criminals are still going to do criminal things. Obviously, we know that felons still carry handguns. There has been no data that has been shown where this will jeopardize police officer lives or put them in any danger.”

Lucas said there is still work to be done for gun rights even after reaching a longtime goal.

“I would still like to eliminate gun-free zones because gun-free zones are simply zones where people that obey gun laws are easy victims for people that don’t obey gun laws,” he said. “Sadly, we see that play out time and time again. Look at all of the mass shootings that have occurred. They occur in gun-free zones. That’s when good people, by law, are unable to defend themselves against people that have no regard for law or life.”

In 2017, Lucas proposed a law that would require journalists to apply for a journalism license. It was written with the exact same wording of the state law requiring a permit for carrying a handgun.

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He said he wrote that law to equate how Second Amendment rights are treated compared to other constitutional rights.

“It proved my point perfectly because you know so many people in the media were screaming bloody murder at how it was unconstitutional, but I used the exact same language that we use for our Second Amendment right to our First Amendment right,” he said. “The irony was unreal.”

source: https://tribtown.com/2022/03/23/constitutional-carry-signed-into-indiana-law/

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