By TOM DAVIES
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The repeal of Indiana’s requirement for a permit to carry a handgun in public has forced police agencies to change how they handle encounters with armed people.
Republicans pushed the repeal, which takes effect Friday, through the state Legislature this spring over the vocal opposition of the state police superintendent and several statewide law enforcement groups. They argued that eliminating the permit system would endanger officers by stripping them of a screening tool for quickly identifying dangerous people who shouldn’t have guns.
The change will allow anyone age 18 or older to carry a handgun in public except those with a felony conviction, who face a restraining order or have a dangerous mental illness. Supporters argue the permit requirement undermined Second Amendment protections by forcing law-abiding citizens to undergo police fingerprinting and background checks.
Without the permit requirement, police officers can no longer ask about whether someone is legally carrying a handgun or seize a person’s weapon unless they have adequate suspicion that person was involved in a crime, according to state police. The agency has been training its 1,200 troopers on the legal changes and providing information to the hundreds of police departments, said state police spokesman Capt. Ron Galaviz.
“We have to go through another step or two in order to be able to run a criminal check,” Galaviz said. “We won’t necessarily be able to do it there on the side of the road.”
At least 25 states have adopted permitless carry laws, with Georgia in April becoming the 10th state to do so in the past two years as the issue has become a national conservative cause that gun rights advocates call “constitutional carry” in reference to the Second Amendment. Among Indiana’s neighboring states, Ohio, which also acted this spring, and Kentucky don’t require handgun permits, while Illinois and Michigan do.
The loosening of Indiana’s already lax gun laws comes just days after President Joe Biden signed the most sweeping gun violence bill in decades following a recent series of mass shootings, including the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.
About 1.2 million people had Indiana handgun permits as of March 1, according to state police statistics. The permit law required people to obtain a license to carry a loaded handgun outside their own homes, businesses and vehicles, although people could generally carry rifles and shotguns without a permit.
