Whenever there's gun violence in Indiana, Paul Helmke can usually be counted on to blame the state of the law more than the actions of the shooter:
When Daniel Mola shot Christopher Elkins outside a Winfield bar last month, the killing became the town's first homicide.
The president of a national gun-control group says Indiana's lax laws could be part of the problem.
"If he (Mola) was carrying, it's always hard to tell in any specific case what might have stopped the person from doing it," said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign, headquartered in Washington, D.C. "The problem in Indiana is, we hardly try to stop it."
Way down in the story is a small detail showing that no new law would have changed things, since the shooter was not in compliance with existing law:
Mola's permit to carry a concealed weapon was expired at the time of this year's shooting, according to the Indiana State Police.
Much of the article is devoted to Helmke's displeasure with the fact that Indiana is a "must issue" state rather than a "may issue" state. He has also been a First Amendment specialist (he was our lawyer before he became mayor). Wonder how he'd feel about a state that said authorities may grant freedom of the press and religion rather than must grant them. Something is either a right, or it's not.
