Posted on 05/25/2023 3:16:42 PM PDT by John W
INDIANAPOLIS — In what has been termed an “update to the City’s gun violence reduction strategy,” Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett is prepared to challenge the Indiana General Assembly in its next session to curb access to firearms in Marion County.
During an address at the IMPD Academy this afternoon, Hogsett said that an ordinance will be introduced before the City-County Council June 5 that would ban semi-automatic rifles in Marion County, raise the age to purchase a firearm to 21 and rollback the 2022 law banning gun permits.
A city ordinance in of itself would not affect change overnight, however, it would allow local officials to begin enforcing tighter gun restrictions immediately should state lawmakers enact such legislation.
As of last July 1, police across Indiana were rendered mostly powerless to inquire about the legality of the possession of a gun unless officers were investigating a specific crime.
Merchants and business owners in Broad Ripple Village have recently lamented that IMPD is powerless to stop the influx of guns being carried out in the open due to Indiana’s Constitutional Carry law.
IMPD has investigated several shootings in Broad Ripple this year, including one that lead to an officer-involved wounding of a man who fired at officers last winter.
To boost the ranks of IMPD, which is currently 300 officers short of its authorized strength of 1,843, the mayor has announced $10,000 signing bonuses for new officers will now be rolled into $71,000 salaries for first-year patrolmen and women, along with $2,500 retention bonuses for veteran officers on the job as of next January 1.
The city will also hire three new criminal attorneys for assignment the next two years at the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana to work exclusively on the federal prosecution of violent felony defendants from Marion County.
IMPD will step up its investigations of traditionally troubled properties such as apartment buildings, bars and other locations that have been sites of repeated gun violence and the city will cite such property owners for maintaining a common nuisance.
The city will advise groups accessing public property such as parks, plazas and streets that they have the option to declare the site a Gun Free Zone for the duration of their event and IMPD will assist in prohibiting firearms at the location.
The Office of Public Health and Safety will launch the “I Choose Peace” campaign which will seek to encourage businesses and groups to invest in anti-violence programs and declare events as Gun Free Zones this summer.
OPHS will also hold “Summer in the City” programs which will include weeklong classes on barbering, financial literacy, cooking and nutrition and E-gaming with programs aimed at younger children than in previous summers.
IMPD will give away 500 gunlocks in June to encourage gun safety as detectives currently investigate an average of nine accidental shootings every month.
“The Office of Public Health and Safety will launch the “I Choose Peace” campaign which will seek to encourage businesses and groups to invest in anti-violence programs and declare events as Gun Free Zones this summer.”
More clueless virtue signalling.
I do hope that Mayor is sure to inform the criminals of the new rules in regards to guns. Good grief, America has a ton of laws and rules on the book in reference to guns, they just don’t enforce them on the criminals, just the law abiding citizen.
When Indiana is doing this then it’s time to not comply.
I will not comply!!
Only fascists ban guns…
How about GO AFTER THE ACTUAL CRIMINALS!!!
I first read it as “Hogswett.” More appropriate.
Stop and Frisk....
Blue city.
Pathetic Hogsett is up for re-election and not polling well at all due to all the violence and shootings done by HANDGUNS, not rifles.
Meanwhile he’s denied the violence outright for years since the Summer of love and claimed that the city is perfectly safe and vibrant…
Except now he claims it’s not because he needs the political points.
I live near Indy. Hogsett has no chance to get this passed. Since he took over, Indy is a crime ridden disaster. Decent gun owners aren’t going to be sitting ducks for criminals. They are going to self protect.
I grew up close to Broad Ripple Village. Used to walk around that place all the time. There have been crime problems there for many years. People carrying their guns will quit going to the bars and clubs in Ripple without protection because the criminals will keep their weapons.
I have also been hearing that the mobs ripping off stores has started in Indiana now too.
At last! The criminals will fi ally start obeying the law!
They never stop.
Doesn’t matter if it’s guns or child mutilation now.
As it should be. If it is not a crime to carry a firearm, then the police have no business questioning a citizen who is exercising their constitutional right.
I’m sure that Indiana has an article in their constitution that says that the state laws cannot be overridden by local laws. So this “law” would be worthless and the first person the local police choose to hassle over carrying a firearm will win a goodly sum in a lawsuit violating his rights under the color of law.
***that would ban semi-automatic rifles***
I still remember 1981 when actress Lee Grant on Good Morning America(ABC) poking holes in the air with her finger and screaming...”THE NRA IS A RIFLE ORGANIZATION! THEY SHOULD GIVE UP THEIR HAND GUNS AND THEY CAN KEEP THEIR RIFLES!”
A few years later they came for the rifles.
Nine accidental shootings PER MONTH? I find that very hard to believe as accidental shooting tend to grab headlines on the nightly news.
Lived in Broad Ripple in the 80s.
Very safe, wonderful place back then. Sad to see this change.
You mean the gang members arent purchasing these legally?
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