General Ordinance 34 (introduced as Proposal 156) of the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council is a local ordinance, passed in July 2023, that would enact various gun control measures within Indianapolis and Marion County if permitted by the Indiana state legislature. The ordinance's measures were proposed by Mayor Joe Hogsett's administration, and it was passed by the Democratic-controlled council. The passage took place during a mayoral election season, in which rising violent crime rates were a key election issue, and crime and gun control were a source of considerable debate locally and beyond.
Background
State gun laws and preemption
Indiana has one of the least restrictive set of gun laws in the United States. In 2022, Indiana's permitless open carry law went into effect. The state government still issues licenses upon application, such as if an Indiana resident wants to be licensed while traveling out-of-state to states which recognize Indiana licenses. The legal age to purchase firearms is generally 18 years of age (with exceptions for family). There are no state restrictions on assault weapons.
Indiana state law also largely prevents local governments from enacting firearms regulations, so that no city or county may enforce stricter regulations than what the Indiana General Assembly has authorized. When the law came into effect in 2011, it invalidated existing local ordinances, such as one in Gary, Indiana. Similar preemption laws became common among Republican-controlled states seeking to rein in more liberal cities, and this measure is part of a larger trend of the Indiana state government passing preemption laws against cities that might seek to pass more liberal local regulations on issues such as minimum wage, sick leave, banking, and single-use plastics.
Indianapolis gun crimes
In recent years, Indianapolis has contended with a rise in homicides, and also experienced several high-profile mass shootings, with the violent crime rate becoming one of the top political issues. Beginning in 2020, Indianapolis surpassed 200 murders in one year for the first time, and then repeated that tally again each year since. By June 10, 2023, over 100 homicides had been reported in 2023; over 65% of 2022 murders were unsolved.
In March 2021, 4 people, including a 7-year-old child, were shot to death execution-style in a domestic incident at a home on Randolph Street. In April 2021, the deadliest mass shooting in Indiana history occurred, when a shooter killed 8 workers, and himself, and injured 7, with an assault weapon at an Indianapolis FedEx facility. In May 2022, 5 people, including teenagers, were injured (one self-inflicted) in a shootout at the Indianapolis Canal Walk, one of downtown's most-frequented tourist areas. In 2022, just days after the constitutional carry state law went into effect, a mass shooting at Greenwood Park Mall just outside of Indianapolis left 3 dead and 2 injured before the shooter was killed by an armed bystander. In April 2023, a high school student at Arsenal Technical High School was murdered, and had been discovered by a school bus full of children shortly before dying.
On April 21, 2023, the incident that was most cited as instigating the proposal occurred, when a suspect being pursued by Indianapolis police opened fire with an AR-15 style assault weapon—injuring two officers. After the event, dramatic photos showed a police vehicle riddled in bullet holes through the hood, and driver-side windshield and door. In June, 2023, 3 people were killed and one injured in a shooting on a busy corner in the Broad Ripple neighborhood, an entertainment district with 400–500 people in the area at the time. On July 3, a 16-year-old girl was killed in a quadruple shooting at a neighborhood block party in Forest Manor.
Measures
The ordinance revises Chapter 451 of the Revised Code of Indianapolis, relating to public health and welfare. It includes four gun control-related measures:
Raising the minimum age to purchase firearms from 18 to 21
Banning purchase, sale, possession, or firing of a semiautomatic assault weapon
Requiring a valid license to possess a handgun
Banning concealed carry of a firearm
The ordinance adopts the definition of firearms found in the Indiana Code as pertains to the concealed carry measure, and for the assault weapon ban adopts the definition of "semiautomatic assault weapon" found in the federal Assault Weapons Ban of 2023 bill.