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Rep. Mitch Gore (D-Indianapolis) authored an amendment making it a crime if a gun owner failed to secure their firearm and a child accessed it.
Justin Hicks/IPB NewsListen to the broadcast version of this story.
Indiana House Republicans blocked an effort Monday that would’ve required gun owners to safely store their firearms when a child could access them.
Rep. Mitch Gore’s (D-Indianapolis) amendment would require gun owners to "secure" their firearm in one of a few ways: by putting it in a locked container, using a trigger or cable lock, or disassembling it. And Gore’s language would only make it a crime if the person does none of those things and the child gets a hold of the gun.
“Data shows us that if this language is incorporated into Indiana code, we could expect unintentional firearm deaths and suicides among children to decrease by a third,” Gore said.
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But Republicans blocked the amendment on procedural grounds. Rep. Dan Leonard (R-Huntington) said Gore’s language wasn't "germane" – closely related enough – to the bill he was trying to add it to: HB 1077, which eliminates Indiana’s handgun license requirement.
“Nowhere in the bill is there anything close to talking about storage,” Leonard said.
The underlying bill will be up for approval by the House next.
Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.
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