Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb passes Constitutional Carry law

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb made Constitutional Carry the law in Indiana on March 21.

This will allow any Indiana resident over 18-years-old who qualifies to carry a handgun on their person without a permit to do so.

Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding says that it could make law enforcement’s jobs considerably harder.

“Now, if you have maybe three people who shouldn’t possess a weapon inside of a vehicle, and they get stopped by police and there is a weapon,” said Wedding, “they can have some young person, 18-year-old person in the car and just claim, hey, those are my guns.”

While the potential is there for people to use this new law to get around law enforcement, Uncle Rudy’s Indoor Firing Range Owner John Rudolph says that the permits didn’t make a difference to criminals anyways.

“I don’t know if any legislation is going to fix that. Obviously, the people that break the rules are the problem here,” said Rudolph, “and the people that are law-abiding citizens are trying to do the right thing.”

In Rudolph’s mind, Indiana’s gun laws aren’t far from the constitutional carry law that was just signed.

“I really don’t see there being much of a difference. Today, as it sits right now, when you get your permit,” said Rudolph, “it’s just a background check that the state does, and there’s no training requirements.”

Officials say on July 1 no one in Indiana will be required to have a carry permit.

Both Sheriff Wedding and Rudolph can agree on one thing though. If you’re going to have a gun, learn how to use it safely.

“If you have a gun, you need to practice with it. You need to get it out, it’s probably been sitting on your shelf for years in the closet. You need to get it out and actually use it,” said Rudolph.

“If you own a weapon, go out and get the proper training, read up on the laws, and understand,” said Wedding.

The new law comes after Governor Holcomb signed HB 1296.

There will still be exceptions to who can carry a handgun. For instance, those who were unable to obtain a permit for reasons such as a felony, will still be unable to carry a handgun.

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