5 Indiana mayors renew call for expanded gun background checks
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A nationwide group of mayors including five from Indiana on Thursday renewed its call for the Senate to approve two gun control measures.
Following the 2019 mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, the U.S. Conference of Mayors sent then-Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, and then-Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, a letter urging them to support two gun control bills the House had approved.
More than 200 mayors signed the letter including Democrats Joe Hogsett of Indianapolis, Thomas Broderick of Anderson, Tom Henry of Fort Wayne, and Jerome Prince of Gary.
Carmel’s James Brainard was the lone Republican mayor in the state to lend his signature. The conference re-issued the letter Thursday morning with updated signatures.
The two measures the mayors endorsed both involve background checks, and again passed the U.S. House on a near-party line vote last year.
One would require background checks for all firearm purchases, though it includes exceptions for guns given as gifts to family members, or lent to a friend for hunting.
The other would require firearm dealers to wait for 10 business days instead of three for background check results. All of Indiana’s House Republicans voted against both bills and all of the House Democrats voted for them.
News 8 contacted the offices of all five Indiana mayors for comment on the recirculated letter.
Prince was the only one to provide a response. He said in a statement, “Both pieces of legislation provide common sense ways to help keep firearms away from people who absolutely should not have access to them. Like my colleagues across the nation, I urge the U.S. Senate to pass these pieces of legislation. It’s time to stop just talking about protecting our people, and start passing real laws that provide more safety for our people.”
Now-Majority Leader Schumer has placed both bills on the Senate’s calendar, but has not yet scheduled a vote.