I believe the Constitution means what it says in the Second Amendment, which states “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The framers intended the Bill of Rights to be a list of “negative” rights, meaning it is a list of things the government may not do to infringe on the rights that they assumed free men automatically have. It is not meant to be a list of what private citizens and businesses may or may not do.

While I am an avid supporter of Second Amendment rights, and I have been critical of the National Rifle Association for a lack of commitment to the Second Amendment, I am opposed to House Bill 1065. This bill passed by a huge margin in both chambers of the Indiana state legislature, passing by 74-20 in the House and 41-9 in the Senate. HB 1065 would make it illegal for employers to prohibit employees from taking a gun to work and leaving it in a locked vehicle out of plain sight. Some employers, such as schools, are exempt from this law.

(Read more after the leap)

The Parks & Recreation Committee of the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council met tonight to take public testimony on Proposal 39-2010. This proposal, authored by the Republican-turned-Libertarian Ed Coleman (L-At Large), would remove the prohibition of firearm possession on park property. It is legal to possess a firearm if you have a carry permit in national parks, Indiana state parks, but not in IndyParks.

When this proposal was introduced in the Council, Republican Mayor Greg Ballard almost immediately announced that he would veto the proposal if it were to pass Council. About a dozen people spoke in favor of the proposal, including yours truly. Two spoke out against it.

After public comments, Councilor Lincoln Plowman (R-25th) said he supported the proposal but had an issue with it because of the potential for IndyParks property to violate the state law on school zones. He immediately moved to table the proposal. Councilors Janice McHenry (R-6th), William Oliver (D-10th), and Susie Day (R-20th) concurred. Councilors Mike Speedy (R-24th), Monroe Gray (D-8th) and Vernon Brown (D-18th) voted no on tabling.

Monroe Gray stated he did not like the proposal at all. So I wonder did he know he was voting to table it or did he not want it tabled, but send it to the full council so it can be voted down? Vernon Brown, on the other hand, commented that he thought CCW permit holders should be allowed to possess on IndyParks property. I spoke to Brown after the hearing and said “Hell has frozen over. We actually agree on an issue!”

Councilor Coleman stated to the gathered crowd that he felt the reason the proposal was tabled in committee was to save face for themselves and the Mayor. Some GOP insiders state the sole reason for Councilor Coleman writing this proposal is stirring up animosity within the party that got him elected to his seat, which he repaid the favor by defecting to the Libertarians.

From the NRA-ILA:

On February 22, a new law on guns in national parks takes effect. The law repeals a National Park Service rule that has long prohibited Americans from lawfully possessing firearms in national parks for self-defense.
The new law, passed last spring by an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the U.S. Senate, will allow people to possess, carry and transport firearms in national parks, in accordance with state law.

This mirrors a regulation passed a few years ago allowing possession in Indiana state parks by firearms owners who hold a permit. It is still illegal to possess a firearm in Indianapolis city parks.

Pro-firearms backers (including myself) have taken to contacting Indianapolis City-County Councilors via social networks (Twitter, Facebook) to lobby for not approving the Mayor’s appointment of New Yorker Frank Straub to the position of Public Safety Director.

Liz Karlson is quoted in the IndyStar:

“He comes from a New York culture that is definitely more anti-gun,” said Liz Karlson, county chairwoman of the Republican Liberty Caucus, who has contacted council members about the issue via Facebook. “I’ve heard these things before: They say they don’t go after the gun owner. But I haven’t heard him say anything pro-gun-owner, either.”

(emphasis mine)

Councilor Ben Hunter responded to many comments on Facebook and Twitter and states he backs the Mayor’s appointment and I assume he will vote to confirm on February 1st. Hunter states that Straub only wants to rid “illegal” guns. Many in the pro-firearms movement have taken the phrase “illegal guns” as said by anti-firearms people to mean “all guns”.

I also contacted Mike Speedy, typically a pro-firearms voting councilor, about this appointment. He was on vacation over the holidays with his family and has not responded.

Seen on State Representative Mike Murphy’s Twitter:

Today I announced legislation to make info on gun carry permit apps protected from public disclosure. Publication endangers all Hoosiers

In response to databases published by the Bloomington Herald-Times and Indianapolis Star after compiling statistics of publicly disclosed information from the State on firearm carry permits.

Received from an NRA email alert (yes I know it’s late):

“In an effort to show its support for the Second Amendment, Harley-Davidson of Bloomington stepped up to the Herald-Times in disagreement with its new searchable database of concealed carry permit holders.

In a press release issued December 10, the company stated that “Harley-Davidson of Bloomington believes in freedom and is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights. Many of our staff members are gun owners and/or permit holders. We believe the decision of the Herald-Times, a valued business partner, to publish a searchable database of permit holders in the state of Indiana by street, is an unnecessary and dangerous practice.”

Folks, if you don’t know where Bloomington H-D is located – Go East on the SR45/46 bypass from SR37 and go South at the first light, turn at the Marathon station. Go on in there and show your support for Bloomington H-D standing up to the idiot liberal newspaper of Bloomington. If you’re not in the market for a new bike, at least buy a T-shirt there.

UPDATE: Hocus Pocus. What wasn’t there yesterday is here today. The gun permit database is now on the databases page.

You know what they say about left-wing birds of a feather… According to an email I received from the NRA, they announced the IndyStar led by Denny Ryerson followed the lead of its fellow propagandists the Herald-Times from the People’s Republic of Bloomington in publishing an online CCW permit database. The NRA posted a copy/paste of a sample search of the database found in the “Public Safety Databases” section of IndyStar.com. It does not include personal information but it does show age, race, gender, and reason for the permit (over 99% check the box marked “personal protection”), though it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to add additional details.

From the NRA:

This week, the Indianapolis Star revealed its own gun database in an attempt to capitalize on the same controversial limelight as the Bloomington Herald-Times.

The Star’s database is modified from a street-based catalogue of the number of permit holders in a defined area, to a demographic listing of Indiana ZIP codes, including the percentage of the population permit holders make up, as well as the their gender, race and age. However, such differences do not hide the paper’s intent.

The searchable database of law-abiding carry permit holders is included in the “Public Safety” section of the paper’s website.

The paper seems to believe that it’s a matter of “public safety” for people to know how many permit holders live near them. Apparently the Star thinks that law-abiding concealed carry permit holders are to be regarded with caution.

Lo and behold, I went to the IndyStar.com website to post a link to the database and its gone. Perhaps the backlash from law abiding citizens to the Bloomington Herald-Times database got the attention of Dennis Ryerson.

At least the IndyStar is going a few steps further than the Herald-Times. The IndyStar posts a link to the Sex Offender Registry on their database page.

Thanks to the leftists at the Bloomington Herald-Times, criminals will now know which homes are armed and which ones will be easy pickings. In their moonbat zeal to shame those who dare exercise their constitutional rights into a progressive submission by publishing a database of Indiana CCW permits, they have enabled the nere-do-wells of Indiana to weed out those who can (and likely would) put up a fight.

Of course this also would alert criminals to find homes which likely have firearms contained within them. So in that case it would behoove one to invest in a secure method of storage for the firearms not carried around or kept available for home defense on a regular basis.

From the Herald Times:

Search our database of more than 318,000 gun licensees in Indiana.

So it appears they have compiled a STATEWIDE database of CCW permit holders.

One thought I do have on this is for folks to pay the $125 fee and obtain a lifetime CCW permit even if they don’t plan to carry a firearm. Nothing like bogus information to clutter up a database.

By the way, you must be a paying subscriber to the H-T to view the database. Also, a list of the databases published in the H-T is interesting.

• IU/Local Government/School Salaries
• Gun Permits
• Parking Tickets
• City Code Citations
• Property Transfers
• Restaurant Inspections
• Traffic Counts
• Weddings
• Performers at the Little Nashville Opry
• Election Campaign Contributions

Notice something missing from that list? How about a sex offenders database? Are sex offenders considered an acceptable segment of society by the Herald Times but not firearm owners? That must be the case because the Herald-Times is willing to tell everyone where the firearm owner lives but not the convicted child molester.

Just to be fair the Ryerson Rag doesn’t include a sex offenders database or link to the state database. Then again they are not publishing a list of CCW permit holders either.

UPDATE: Since  I do not have a subscription to the H-T to view the database, others viewed it and stated it just lists streets which people with gun permits are residing. Not exact addresses – so far. Which is deceiving because longer streets with more residences would obviously have more permit holders living on them.

In honor of the Bloomington lefties, I’m posting a video of what is one of  the most awesome personal defense weapons I’ve ever seen

Last week, the Herald-Times (subscription required) reported that the U.S. Senate rejected an amendment that would allow people to “carry hidden guns in 48 states if they have a concealed weapon permit in any one of them.” Indiana’s senators took opposite positions on the vote, with Evan Bayh voting for the amendment and Richard Lugar opposing it.

I am a firm believer in the right to keep and bear arms, and I think concealed carry is a good policy. I am also a firm believer in states’ rights. It is not the proper role of the federal government to be dictating firearms policy to all the states. If concealed carry limitations are constitutional, then the federal government should not interfere with the states setting their own policy on the issue. This anti-conservative amendment is another example of Republicans implementing policy from one city on the east coast for a nation of 300 million, instead of trusting the voters of 50 states to choose the policy that is best for their particular state through their state legislatures and governors.

(Read more after the leap)

From Hoosier Access commenter Nathan Brindle on One Man’s Vote:

“Failed a 3/5 majority requirement by 2 votes, 58-39, 3 not voting.
Here is the roll call vote. F*****g Lugar voted NAY. Bayh, surprisingly enough, voted YEA.
Feel free to find your own local gun-banner senileator and give it what-fer.”

You can tell when Bayh’s senate term is up for a vote – He goes from liberal to moderate.

The comments on Nathan’s blog:

Jeff Naylor writes: “Lugar: Anti-gun, pro-Sotomayor. Sounds like a Dem to me.”

Christopher Hodapp writes: “My God, Lugar has got to go.He gets worse every year that passes, and he’s overstayed his welcome.“

Via Hot Air:

The vote on SB2165 and Obama’s continuing efforts to keep laws in place to prosecute victims demonstrate that Obama has tried hard to mislead voters on his hostility towards gun ownership.  He was in the minority of his own party on this issue.  That makes him an ideologue, not a post-partisan moderate.

I sent the following letter to the National Rifle Association.

National Rifle Association
11250 Waples Mill Road
Fairfax, Virginia 22030

To whom it may concern,

I was shocked to discover that you endorsed Baron Hill in Indiana’s Ninth Congressional District. With this endorsement, you have permanently lost my support. This endorsement undermines not only your credibility as an organization that allegedly supports Second Amendment rights, but also undermines the Second Amendment itself. I could not be more disappointed with this foolish endorsement.

First of all, I point to Baron Hill’s record as recorded by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. (http://www.bradycampaign.org/legislation/scorecard/scorecard.php?shr=IN). I want to highlight the following three pieces of legislation where the Brady Campaign gave Baron Hill positive marks:

(Read more about how the NRA sold out after the leap)