Two bills before the Indiana General Assembly are not scheduled for committee hearings even though they address matters urgently important to Hoosiers. Both are assigned to the Senate’s Corrections and Criminal Law Committee.  SB 28 would close critical gaps in background checks for purchase of firearms. SB 29 would require guns in homes to be stored securely to keep them from children.

Universal background checks (UBCs) are fundamental in helping to keep guns out of the hands of felons, seriously mentally ill persons, and others excluded under the current system that applies to gun dealers.  However, firearms are readily available in Indiana for purchase by anyone through private sales without a background check, at gun shows, on the internet and on the streets. In a survey of gun owners who had obtained a firearm in the last two years, 22% said they were able to do so without background checks.

Nationwide, states with UBC laws experience lower rates of homicide than those without, which might be why support for comprehensive background checks was 69% of NRA members, 78% among gun owners who are not NRA members and 89% for respondents who don’t own a firearm.

SB 29’s proposal – that gun owners must store their guns in a way that prevents a child from getting one – simply should not be controversial. Safe storage helps prevent accidental shootings, teen suicides, impulsive domestic violence and trafficking in stolen firearms. Because most guns used in school shootings are taken from the home, safe storage would help to prevent school shootings and be safer than coping with a gun at school.

Employers especially have a stake in reducing gun violence. In 2017, 351 gun homicides happened in workplaces. Since 1999, mass shootings in workplaces were four times the number in schools.  And communities that experience gun violence see lower property values, decline in economic growth and business startups and loss of jobs.

Hoosiers deserve public dialogue addressing access to guns in relation to gun violence, beginning with committee hearings for Background Checks and Safe Storage.   Starting earnest consideration of these measures should not wait for next year’s long session. Sensible legislation to reduce gun violence perennially fails in the General Assembly because legislators underestimate the depth of support for those measures among Hoosier voters. The solution for that perception problem is for people who know better to speak up.

Jerry King, President
Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence