Indiana Senate advances bill to allow more state officials to bring guns to work

INDIANAPOLIS (CN) —The Indiana Senate advanced a bill Monday that would allow state officers and their staff to carry handguns inside the Statehouse.

The proposal known as Senate Bill 14 grants Indiana’s attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller and treasurer permission to carry a handgun while inside the Statehouse and complex, and would allow them to extend that privilege to their staff and employees.

Indiana lawmakers and their staff can already do this because of a law passed in 2017.

The bill also eliminates the need for authorized individuals to have a permit to carry a handgun while in the Statehouse, which falls in line with Indiana’s permitless carry rules for handguns that took effect in 2022.

Authored by Republican State Senator Jim Tomes, the bill advanced along party lines in a vote of 40 in favor and 9 against, with all opposition coming from Senate Democrats.

Tomes, who also authored the 2017 bill that allowed legislative employees to carry firearms while in the Statehouse, said before the Senate vote that “not to pass this bill would be dangerous.” 

SB 14 now heads to the Indiana House of Representatives where Republicans hold a wide majority and could pass the bill without any support from Democrats.

Democrat Senator and Minority Caucus Leader Greg Taylor spoke out against the bill on the Senate floor before the vote.

“Everybody, this is a dangerous piece of legislation,“ Taylor said. “To me it’s going to be challenged constitutionally, maybe even by the people who support our Second Amendment.”

Taylor said a section of the bill that allows the state officers to decide if their staff and employees can carry is vulnerable to a Second Amendment challenge, since it allows a government official to decide if a staff member may carry a handgun while in the capitol.

The current Indiana legislative session ends Thursday, March 14.

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