All,
PLEASE PRINT AND/OR SHARE THIS WIDELY
1369 passed.
First the good news. If you have a LIFETIME Carry license issued before July 1 of this year, that license will be honored until you die. If you have a 5 year, it terminates at the end of the current issue period. Your State reciprocity may change, depending on other states' reactions to this change in Indiana law, but otherwise, lifetime license holders will be OK. Of course, if you lose your license, it will now be gone, forever.
Now the bad news. The specific piece of Federal law in 18 USC 922(q) that lets you carry a loaded handgun within 1000 feet of a school (roughly two blocks from the edge of school property in all directions) states "if the individual possessing the firearm is licensed to do so by the State in which the school zone is located or a political subdivision of the State,"
The current license to carry is a license to carry a handgun. The new Reciprocity License is NOT a license to carry a handgun. It is, rather, a license to carry a handgun IN OTHER STATES ACCORDING TO THOSE STATES' LAWS when actually carrying a handgun in those other states.
In other words, it is literally, by its own construction, not a valid license to carry within the state borders.
The exact language of the new license is: "A resident of this
20 state who wishes to carry a firearm in another state under a
21 reciprocity agreement entered into by this state and another state
22 may obtain an Indiana reciprocity license under this chapter"
On its face, this fails the requirements of 922(q), meaning that if you live within two blocks of a school you CANNOT leave your home property with a loaded handgun, nor can you travel within two blocks of a school with a loaded handgun.
If you live in the average Indiana small town or city, this is very bad.
Now the second bit of bad news. Despite being labeled a reciprocity license, there is no guarantee that ANY state not already having Constitutional Carry will actually accept the new Indiana license or continue to accept the old one. That includes all of our immediate neighbors. If you are a frequent cross border traveler, you will need to pay close attention to what those states say about this when it becomes law.
Finally, in the bad news category, the bill instructs local police agencies to create lists of undesirable people to be more closely monitored for firearm possession due to their legal inability to own or possess a firearm. From a civil liberties standpoint, this means the legislature has instructed LEOs to make a naughty list of their own design. That's just generally bad.
Please note, I fully support Constitutional Carry. But it has been done poorly by Indiana and is ultimately harmful to Indiana residents. If you want to examine a better means of enacting Constitutional Carry, I strongly encourage you to read Alaska's version, which retained their existing license structure mostly to address federal and reciprocity issues, while making it a voluntary upgrade to the default of Constitutional Carry.
Benjamin M. Blatt
Blatt Law Office, P.C.
Licensed in Indiana and Michigan
P.O. Box 221
South Bend, IN 46624-0221
574.360.4039
PLEASE PRINT AND/OR SHARE THIS WIDELY
1369 passed.
First the good news. If you have a LIFETIME Carry license issued before July 1 of this year, that license will be honored until you die. If you have a 5 year, it terminates at the end of the current issue period. Your State reciprocity may change, depending on other states' reactions to this change in Indiana law, but otherwise, lifetime license holders will be OK. Of course, if you lose your license, it will now be gone, forever.
Now the bad news. The specific piece of Federal law in 18 USC 922(q) that lets you carry a loaded handgun within 1000 feet of a school (roughly two blocks from the edge of school property in all directions) states "if the individual possessing the firearm is licensed to do so by the State in which the school zone is located or a political subdivision of the State,"
The current license to carry is a license to carry a handgun. The new Reciprocity License is NOT a license to carry a handgun. It is, rather, a license to carry a handgun IN OTHER STATES ACCORDING TO THOSE STATES' LAWS when actually carrying a handgun in those other states.
In other words, it is literally, by its own construction, not a valid license to carry within the state borders.
The exact language of the new license is: "A resident of this
20 state who wishes to carry a firearm in another state under a
21 reciprocity agreement entered into by this state and another state
22 may obtain an Indiana reciprocity license under this chapter"
On its face, this fails the requirements of 922(q), meaning that if you live within two blocks of a school you CANNOT leave your home property with a loaded handgun, nor can you travel within two blocks of a school with a loaded handgun.
If you live in the average Indiana small town or city, this is very bad.
Now the second bit of bad news. Despite being labeled a reciprocity license, there is no guarantee that ANY state not already having Constitutional Carry will actually accept the new Indiana license or continue to accept the old one. That includes all of our immediate neighbors. If you are a frequent cross border traveler, you will need to pay close attention to what those states say about this when it becomes law.
Finally, in the bad news category, the bill instructs local police agencies to create lists of undesirable people to be more closely monitored for firearm possession due to their legal inability to own or possess a firearm. From a civil liberties standpoint, this means the legislature has instructed LEOs to make a naughty list of their own design. That's just generally bad.
Please note, I fully support Constitutional Carry. But it has been done poorly by Indiana and is ultimately harmful to Indiana residents. If you want to examine a better means of enacting Constitutional Carry, I strongly encourage you to read Alaska's version, which retained their existing license structure mostly to address federal and reciprocity issues, while making it a voluntary upgrade to the default of Constitutional Carry.
Benjamin M. Blatt
Blatt Law Office, P.C.
Licensed in Indiana and Michigan
P.O. Box 221
South Bend, IN 46624-0221
574.360.4039
Benjamin M. Blatt, Attorney at Law
Benjamin M. Blatt, Attorney at Law, South Bend, Indiana. 467 likes · 2 talking about this · 1 was here. For all of your legal needs. Now serving Indiana and Michigan.
www.facebook.com