Indianapolis/Marion County, Indiana to Consider Shooting Ban!

Please Contact the City Council’s Rules and Public Policy Committee Today!

The consolidated City of Indianapolis-Marion County may soon consider Proposal 174, which if enacted, would essentially ban the discharge of firearms within the city limits. Authored by Councilor Angela Mansfield (D-2), proposal 174 is riddled with arbitrary and restrictive provisions that are clearly designed to completely outlaw recreational shooting with Indianapolis-Marion County.

Among the proposed draconian changes to existing ordinances are: it will be unlawful to discharge a firearm anywhere within the consolidated city/county limit, except at an approved shooting range; all shooting ranges must be approved by the Sheriff, and the Sheriff shall develop “safety inspection” standards; every range must be approved on an annual basis. Additionally, any shooting range that does not pass “inspection” shall be deemed an environmental public nuisance and shall be subject to closure! 

As if those measures aren’t onerous enough, Proposal 174 also provides that a person may apply to the sheriff for written approval to shoot firearms on his or her private property if he or she has a minimum of 15 acres! Moreover, the written application submitted to the sheriff must contain the following information: name of the property owner; names of any other persons that the owner is permitting to shoot on his or her property; address and property boundaries of where the person proposes to shoot, time period requested to shoot; and purpose of the request to shoot. As with the shooting range regulations, the sheriff has sole discretion in determining if any shooting activity should be allowed on any property and may revoke approval at any time.

The City County Council’s Rules and Public Policy Committee may hear proposal 174 as early as Tuesday, April 3. Please contact the Committee members listed below and strongly encourage them to oppose these arbitrary and outright hostile changes to the City-County firearms discharge ordinance. Also, if your Councilor is not on the Rules and Public Policy Committee, please contact him or her immediately and urge them to oppose Proposal 174!

Rules and Public Policy Committee:

Rozelle Boyd (D) – [email protected] - 317-327-4240

Dr. Philip Borst (R) – 317-327-4242

Cherrish Pryor (D) – [email protected] - 317-327-4242

Bob Cockrum (R) – 317- 856-5549

Lonnell Conley (D) – [email protected] - 317-547-6652

Monroe Gray (D) – [email protected] - 317-297-1155

Joanne Sanders (R) – [email protected] - 317-283-6040

Scott Schneider (R) – [email protected] - 317-845-1815

You may also locate your Councilor by accessing the following link: http://www.indygov.org/.

To find further contact information or help identifying your legislators
please use the "Write Your Representative" feature found at www.NRAILA.org.