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Johnson County man challenges ban on guns near subdivisions (IN)
Associated Press | May 29, 2002

Posted on 05/29/2002 5:33:59 PM PDT by tarawa

The Associated Press State & Local Wire

May 29, 2002, Wednesday, BC cycle

3:53 PM Eastern Time

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 388 words

HEADLINE: Johnson County man challenges ban on guns near subdivisions

DATELINE: FRANKLIN, Ind.

BODY: A gun enthusiast is challenging a 21-year-old county ordinance, claiming that it violates his constitutional right to bear arms.

The ordinance prohibits anyone except a police officer from carrying a loaded gun within 500 feet of a platted subdivision in unincorporated Johnson County.

John Lowe claims the ordinance is too broad and could prohibit a resident near a subdivision from displaying an assembled gun in a case hanging on the wall of his home. "Do I really think they'll enforce it that way? No," Lowe told The Daily Journal for a story Wednesday. "But they could. They could enforce it that way."

A lack of clear intent of the central Indiana county's ordinance is one of the reasons Lowe filed a complaint this month asking a judge to rule that the ordinance unconstitutional.

Lowe's suit claims that the ordinance violates his right to liberty and property provided for in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and his right to bear arms for self-defense as provided for in the preamble to the Indiana Constitution.

The suit also cites a state law passed in 1994 that says local governments "may not regulate in any manner the ownership, possession, sale, transfer or transportation of firearms."

County attorney Tom Jones said he had not yet had much time to review Lowe's suit. He planned to search for legal precedent that the reasonable regulation of firearms is constitutional, he said.

"Either I'll find a law or I won't," Jones said. "If I do, we'll win it. If I don't, we won't."

Lowe wasn't aware of the local ordinance until Johnson County sheriff's deputies arrived at his home west of Greenwood in May 2001 after a neighbor complained that he was shooting in his back yard.

A second incident occurred in September, when officers tried to stop Lowe and a friend from dove hunting, citing the ordinance. Lowe had done his homework that time and was able to tell the deputies they were not within 500 feet of a platted subdivision.

Lowe didn't receive a penalty either time but could have been cited and assessed a fine up to $500 if found in violation of the ordinance.

Matt Brooks, executive director of the Indiana Association of Counties, said he did not know of any other county in the state that regulated guns based on the distance from a subdivision.

LOAD-DATE: May 29, 2002


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Indiana
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; banglist; govtinterference; rkba

1 posted on 05/29/2002 5:33:59 PM PDT by tarawa
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To: basil
ping
2 posted on 05/29/2002 5:34:15 PM PDT by tarawa
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To: tarawa
The suit also cites a state law passed in 1994 that says local governments "may not regulate in any manner the ownership, possession, sale, transfer or transportation of firearms."

IC 35-47-11
    Chapter 11. Local Regulation of Firearms

IC 35-47-11-1
    Sec. 1. (a) Section 2 of this chapter applies to all units (as defined in IC 36-1-2-23). All other sections of this chapter apply to all units other than townships.
    (b) This chapter applies only if a statute expressly grants a legislative body the authority to adopt an emergency ordinance under this chapter.
    (c) This chapter does not affect the validity of an ordinance adopted before, and in effect on, January 1, 1994.
As added by P.L.140-1994, SEC.13.

IC 35-47-11-2
    Sec. 2. Notwithstanding IC 36-1-3, a unit may not regulate in any manner the ownership, possession, sale, transfer, or transportation of firearms (as defined in IC 35-47-1-5) or ammunition except as follows:
        (1) This chapter does not apply to land, buildings, or other real property owned or administered by a unit, except highways (as defined in IC 8-23-1-23) or public highways (as defined in IC 8-2.1-17-14).
        (2) Notwithstanding the limitation in this section, a unit may use the unit's planning and zoning powers under IC 36-7-4 to prohibit the sale of firearms within two hundred (200) feet of a school by a person having a business that did not sell firearms within two hundred (200) feet of a school before April 1, 1994.
        (3) Notwithstanding the limitation in this section, a legislative body of a unit other than a township may adopt an emergency ordinance or a unit other than a township may take other action allowed under section 6 of this chapter to regulate the sale of firearms anywhere within the unit for a period of not more than seventy-two (72) hours after the regulatory action takes effect.
As added by P.L.140-1994, SEC.13.

IC 35-47-11-3
    Sec. 3. The legislative body of a unit may adopt an emergency ordinance under this chapter if:
        (1) a disaster (as defined in IC 10-4-1-3) has occurred or is likely to occur in the unit; and
        (2) a local disaster emergency has been declared in the unit under IC 10-4-1-23.
As added by P.L.140-1994, SEC.13.

IC 35-47-11-4
    Sec. 4. Notwithstanding any other law, if the conditions described under section 3 of this chapter are present within a unit, the legislative body of the unit may adopt an emergency ordinance under this chapter:
        (1) without complying with the public notice and public meeting provisions of:
            (A) IC 5-14-1.5; or


            (B) any other statute;
        (2) on the same day that the ordinance is presented to the legislative body; and
        (3) by a majority vote of the members of the legislative body.
As added by P.L.140-1994, SEC.13.

IC 35-47-11-5
    Sec. 5. An emergency ordinance adopted under section 4 of this chapter:
        (1) takes effect on the date and at the time of the adoption of the ordinance; and
        (2) expires the earlier of:
            (A) seventy-two (72) hours after the time of the adoption of the ordinance; or
            (B) a time specified in the emergency ordinance.
As added by P.L.140-1994, SEC.13.

IC 35-47-11-6
    Sec. 6. If:
        (1) the conditions described under section 3 of this chapter are present within a unit;
        (2) an unsuccessful attempt is made to convene the legislative body for the purpose of adopting an emergency ordinance under this chapter; and
        (3) in the case of a municipality, an unsuccessful attempt is made to convene the works board to act under this chapter as if the works board were the legislative body;
the executive of a municipality or the presiding officer of a county executive may declare a restriction on the sale of firearms anywhere within the unit for a period of not more than seventy-two (72) hours after the restriction is declared. A declaration under this section has the same effect as an ordinance adopted under section 4 of this chapter and becomes effective and expires as provided in section 5 of this chapter.
As added by P.L.140-1994, SEC.13.

3 posted on 05/29/2002 6:25:46 PM PDT by Hoosier Patriot
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To: tarawa;bang_list
This chapter does not affect the validity of an ordinance adopted before, and in effect on, January 1, 1994.

Any info on when the "no loaded gun within 500' of a platted subdivision" was passed?

4 posted on 06/03/2002 12:57:47 PM PDT by the
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To: Hoosier Patriot
IC 35-47-11
Chapter 11. Local Regulation of Firearms....

...IC 35-47-11-6...et seq....

All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void.

Marbury vs. Madison, 5 US (2 Cranch) 137, 174, 176, (1803)

-archy-/-

5 posted on 06/03/2002 6:42:09 PM PDT by archy
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