Local law enforcement officials are no longer arresting those who carry a handgun in public without a permit, but those with pending charges will not necessarily see the charges dismissed.
Indiana’s requirement for a permit to carry a handgun in public was repealed by the Indiana General Assembly earlier this year and the law went into effect July 1. The repeal was pushed through despite 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.
Locally, law enforcement was divided on the change. Johnson County Sheriff Duane Burgess was not against the changes but did say earlier this year that deputies were going to need time to adapt to the changes.
Edinburgh Police Chief Doyne Little said in March that he thought the changes could put more officers at risk. Lawful citizens have the right to carry a weapon, and they often are doing it the right way, he said. However, if anyone can carry a weapon, it makes it harder to initially determine if they can legally carry it, Little said.
What the law changed
The repeal allows anyone age 18 or older to carry a handgun in public except those with a felony conviction, who face a restraining order or have been flagged for a potentially dangerous mental illness. Other prohibited persons who will still be unable to legally carry a handgun include a person who has been dishonorably discharged from military service and people who are not U.S. citizens.
Supporters argued 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 whether someone is legally carrying a handgun or seize a person’s weapon unless they have adequate suspicion that the person is involved in a crime, according to the Indiana State Police. The agency has been training its 1,200 troopers on the legal changes and providing information to the hundreds of police departments, state police spokesman Capt. Ron Galaviz told the AP.
Most permit cases involve other charges
Locally, the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office has not had any permit-related cases since the law took effect. However, the office does have 27 total pending felony cases which include carrying a handgun without a license as a charge, said Joe Villanueva, prosecutor.
Seventeen of those cases have the charge as a felony, and 12 of those cases are based on the person having a prior unrelated felony conviction, which would still be prohibited under the new law. These charges are not expected to be dismissed, he said.
“In all 27 of these cases additional criminal charges exist, so complete dismissal of any felony case is not anticipated,” Villanueva said.
That’s because a majority of the cases include other criminal charges — mainly possession of marijuana. Only seven pending cases are for handgun violations only, Villanueva said.
At the Johnson County Jail, there were about seven people incarcerated at the jail on illegal possession of a firearm charges on July 20 and the majority were booked prior to July 1. Only two people were booked after that date, data from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office shows.
This data excludes failure to appear warrants.
In almost all cases, the firearm charge resulted from the person already being prohibited from carrying a firearm. Three of the cases were possession by a serious violent felon, two were possession by a domestic batterer, one was a felon in possession of a handgun and one was just possession without a license, data shows.
In the single case of possession of a handgun without a license, that offender was booked on unrelated criminal charges, according to officials. Online court records show that the man facing charges had carried the weapon on or within 500 feet of a school.
Of those who were at the jail on July 20, every single case that had a charge of possession of a firearm was accompanied by additional charges, officials said.
Pending cases will be reviewed
For pending cases of carrying a handgun without a license filed prior to July 1, these cases will be reviewed, and depending on the facts and circumstances for each individual case, that particular charge could be dismissed. If other criminal charges were also filed as part of those cases, those charges will still go forward, Villanueva said.
”While the change in the law does not mandate dismissal, there is an evaluation as to whether it is in the interests of justice that happen,” he said.
Those who have already been convicted on the charges, excluding those who remain prohibited from carrying under the updated law, will not see anything change. This is because the law at the time their offenses were committed said that it was illegal, Villanueva said.
“Their convictions are not automatically vacated because of this change,” Villanueva said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
AT A GLANCE
Here’s a look at who is prohibited from legally carrying a handgun under Indiana law.
- A person who has been convicted of a state or federal offense punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year.
- A person who has been convicted of a crime of domestic violence, IC 35-31.5-2-78; domestic battery, IC 35-42-2-1.3; or criminal stalking, IC 35-45-10-5, and whose firearms rights have not been restored.
- A person restrained by an order of protection issued under IC 34-26-5. This does not include workplace violence orders.
- A fugitive from justice.
- A person under indictment where felony charges have been filed by a prosecutor.
- A person who has been adjudicated dangerous under IC 35-47-14-6.
- A person who has been adjudicated as mentally defective.
- A person who has been committed to a mental institution.
- A person dishonorably discharged from military service or the National Guard.
- A person who renounces their United States citizenship in the manner described in 8 U.S.C. 1481.
- A person who is less than 18 years of age, unless authorized under IC 35-47-10.
- A person who is less than 23 years of age and has an adjudication as a delinquent child for an act described by IC 35-47-4-5, unless authorized under IC 35-47-10.
- An alien.
Source: Indiana State Police
