Huh. The Journal Gazette had a gun control editorial this morning that I didn't totally hate:
States can give their residents permission to carry a gun in public – but they can attach requirements with that permission. In Texas, for example, residents must take 10 hours of classes in gun use and safety, qualify on a firing range and pass a 50-question test to receive a carry permit. And every five years, they must recertify their license, which requires more classes. Ohio also requires training to receive a carry permit.
Indiana, however, requires no training or proof of skills – and allows Hoosiers to obtain a lifetime carry permit, ending a renewal process that could identify people who no longer qualify.
Three years ago, the Indianapolis Star – using the database of Indiana handgun permits – found that state police wrongly approved gun permits in Lake and Marion counties for Hoosiers with criminal histories. State lawmakers responded in their 2010 session – by making secret the previously open records of people who received state permits.
Also in that session, lawmakers passed a rare bill against the interests of businesses, creating a law allowing workers to keep guns in their cars parked at businesses. Previously, businesses had wide ability to regulate what employees can and cannot bring to their workplace property.
I'm ambivalent about the guns-in-parked-cars legislation, which, I think, is the proper state of mind when two sets of rights are in conflict. But the lifetime permits coupled with the complete absence of a proof-of-skills requirement is just a dumb idea. The fact that Indiana is a lot looser with its regulations than supposedly gun-crazy Texas ought to make us pause and reconsider.
