Indiana House Passes Constitutional Carry in 2022, Will The State Senate?

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U.S.A.-(AmmoLand.com)- On January 11, 2022, the Indiana House passed Constitutional Carry Bill HB 1077.

In 2021, Indiana came very close to passing Constitutional Carry in the state. On February 22 of 2021, the House passed bill 1368 65 to 31. The Indiana Senate had 39 Republicans and 11 Democrats. The future of HB 1368 looked bright.

Constitutional Carry is a restoration of the right to carry, without government permission, similar to when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791. At that time, there were no requirements to have government permission to carry firearms, openly or concealed. There were few places where citizens could not carry, such as early prisons, which were much less common than today, and powder magazines.

While there are several variations of Constitutional Carry, it is widely accepted as the ability to carry handguns, openly or concealed, in most public places, without the necessity of obtaining a government permit. It is also referred to as “permitless carry”.

In Indiana, 21 Republican senators were co-sponsors of the bill in 2021. It did not pass the Indiana Senate. The Republican leadership in the Senate decided to kill the bill.  It was not alone.

The 2aproject.com reported there was a secret Republican Caucus vote to kill the bill, where a majority of Republicans voted against the bill in a meeting not available to the public.

From the 2aproject, in April of 2021:

It is hugely frustrating for Indiana gun owners and supporters of the Second Amendment that Republicans, who hold a super-majority of 39-11 in the Indiana Senate, refused to give HB 1369 a public hearing – choosing instead to kill the bill behind closed doors in a secret vote taken last Thursday in the Republican Senate caucus.  And consider this: we know for a fact that at least 20 Republicans voted against the bill in that secret meeting to achieve a majority.  Yet the bill had 21 co-sponsors in the Senate. Simple logic dictates that at least two Senators (in addition to the 18 who were not co-sponsors) actually voted to kill the bill behind closed doors DESPITE BEING CO-SPONSORS.

State Senator Liz Brown killed the bill by the simple expedient of never scheduling it for a committee hearing.

Senator Brown remains the Senate Judiciary Chair in 2022. Senator Brown represents Senate District 15. The District was made somewhat more conservative in the 2021 redistricting, according to kokomoperspective.com. Indiana is a serious candidate to pass Constitutional Carry in 2022. From wpta.com:

The constitutional carry bill, HB 1077, was introduced Tuesday. It specifies that those who are not otherwise prohibited from carrying or possessing a handgun are not required to obtain or possess a license or permit from the state to carry a handgun in state lines.

Bill author State Rep. Ben Smaltz (R-Auburn) said the bill would not change the process to legally purchase a gun, and Hoosiers would still need to complete the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives form and be approved by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. He said this ensures only eligible buyers legally purchase handguns.

AP reportsSenator Liz Brown is co-sponsoring a similar bill in the Senate.

The chairwoman of the state Senate committee that blocked the repeal effort last year is co-sponsoring a bill similar to the House proposal for this year’s session.

Politicians often promote bills they have no intention of passing, to gain credibility with their core constituents. Indiana voters will see if Senator Brown is serious about passing Constitutional Carry this year.

Much depends on what the Senate bill has in it.

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb did not include a mention of Constitutional Carry in his priorities for the 2022 legislative session.

The deadline for filing for the 2022 state elections is on February 4, 2022. The primary elections are scheduled for May 3, 2022.

The House currently has 71 Republicans and 29 Democrats, for 100 total members. The Indiana House Bill 1077passed with 63 votes to 29.  The legislative session is scheduled to run from January 4th to March 14th, 2022. The Indiana Senate has 39 Republican senators and 11 Democrat senators. Action in the Senate will be done before the primary elections.

The primary elections are scheduled for May 3rd, 2022. The primary elections could provide leverage to pass Constitutional Carry in Indiana.  2022 as an election year is a positive factor favoring the passage of Constitutional Carry.

The Constitutional Carry map has changed since the Indiana senate killed the bill in 2021.

  • Iowa passed Constitutional Carry on the 2nd April 2021.
  • Tennessee passed Constitutional Carry on the 8th April 2021.
  • Texas passed Constitutional Carry in June of 2021.

In total, five states passed Constitutional Carry in 2021. Utah and Montana passed Constitutional Carry before the Indiana Senate decision to kill Constitutional Carry in Indiana for 2021.

With 21 states having Constitutional Carry (permitless carry), objections to a bill in Indiana become harder to justify.

Opinion:

In 2020, the left pulled out all stops to remove President Trump from office. Those extreme measures worked nationally. They are not in play in 2022. Conservatives want to see action to stop the Leftist push for authoritarian government and socialism at the national level.

Constitutional Carry is a measure where state Republicans can visibly show their willingness to push back against authoritarian federal power grabs as the right to keep and bear arms is the communists/deep-state’s biggest obstacle in its attempt to take power from Americans.


About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

Dean Weingarten

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Henry Bowman

Two reasons why Indiana is so far behind on Constitutional Carry: The Indiana legislature is dominated by the GOP, yet the vast majority of reps and senators are RINOs. They usually vote down D-rat antigun bills, but they also nearly never vote for solid pro-2A bills like Constitutional Carry. The RINOs like to keep existing revenue streams wide-open. Like all politicians, they love spending your money (OPM). There was solid money coming from LTCH fees, and it took forever and a day to get these RINOs to vote for abolishing 4-year license fees, but they retained the $75 lifetime permit… Read more »

Last edited 2 years ago by Henry Bowman
Russn8r

Only reason “Con Carry” is moving in so many states is to pacify the pissed off natives who are on to RINO subversion like the coup d’etat. RINOs use “Con Carry” to trick chumps into thinking they’re safe in The Shire. E.g., Arizona passed “CC”, then let commie-Dems steal the presidency & both senate seats. Big assist by “Libertarian” fools in AZCDL.

Last edited 2 years ago by Russn8r
Stag

“The 2aproject.com reported there was a secret Republican Caucus vote to kill the bill, where a majority of Republicans voted against the bill in a meeting not available to the public.” I don’t know why I have to keep saying this but REPUBLICANS DO NOT SUPPORT THE 2A! Anyone saying otherwise at this point is either incredibly stupid or suffering from some severe cognitive dissonance. Continuing to vote for someone just because they have that R after their name will get you the same results. A bunch of traitors who pander during election season and piss on your rights the… Read more »

Arizona

Do it! Join the free states!

Russn8r

Con Carry is misleading unless “gun free” zones are abolished back to 1792 levels. Until then, mass murders will continue in places like Columbine-VA Tech-Sandy Hook-Pulse-Parkland-El Paso (Walmart half-surrounded by “gun free” El Cielo Mall), since zip has changed in those zones. Grabbers can say, “see, Con Carry doesn’t work.” Then what do we say? “We didn’t really mean it. It’s not Con Carry. If only you’d let us carry everywhere, mass murders would be rare & mitigated”? But it’s REPUBS & NRA backing “gun free” zones, aided by those who call it Con Carry.

Last edited 2 years ago by Russn8r
Arizona

Gun free zones are politicians enabling mass murderers, creating victims by threat of imprisonment. We can still protect ourselves and neighbors rather than complying with the unconstitutional directive, and that is a choice each person needs to make. But if a shooting yet again occurs in a gun free zone, that is NOT an argument against CC, and is easily defeated “mrs gun grabber, CC would have stopped this criminal, except by law you stripped all citizens of the ability to carry in this zone, which is likely why it was picked. Mrs gun grabber, you enabled the psychotic shooter… Read more »

Henry Bowman

Also, wherever gun-free zones are established by woke companies, i.e., ‘Wokemart’, we who carry every day have a duty to draw attention about this to other gun owners and exhort them to get on the boycott bandwagon. CCRKBA has this list of do-not-buy companies. Also, we can enter retail establishments while carrying and without actually buying anything, just browse as you perform a 2A audit. When staff approach you and inform you that the store policy is antigun, ask for the store manager. When management arrives, explain that this is a 2A audit, and then hand them a printout card… Read more »

Russn8r

WHO said it’s an argument against Con Carry?