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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Ind. Gov't. - "Residents speak out on guns in state parks"

First, I want to say that the available information on the state rulemaking process continually confuses me, so I don't know how people who are not professionals in the area keep track of rulemakings, much less appear at the proper times and places to testify on them.

Today Patrick Guinane of the NWI Times reports:

MIAMI COUNTY | Rita DeBard is licensed to carry a Colt .45 revolver and doesn't want to give up that right while visiting the state park adjacent to her home.

"I carry one for personal protection," DeBard said Tuesday night at the first of two public hearings on a proposal to allow handguns in state parks and wildlife areas.

"Basically, what you're doing is denying me the ability to carry my gun from my house to that state property," DeBard said.

The state allows licensed Hoosiers to carry concealed handguns in most public places, but Indiana's 24 state parks had been off limits to deter game poachers.

A preliminary rule approved in November lifted the long-standing ban. State bureaucrats are now taking public testimony before deciding whether to permanently allow handguns in state parks.

"These ought to be safe zones," said Robert Riester, an Indianapolis minister who drove 70 miles to speak at Tuesday's hearing at the Miami County Fairgrounds. "I think the state parks are sufficiently an Indiana treasure that we ought to let them be safe places for families and children."

Riester said a group of church leaders has asked Gov. Mitch Daniels to quash the proposed rules. The temporary handgun policy expires this fall, and the governor must sign off on any permanent rule. Riester said he and other church leaders worry about the safety of youth group outings they chaperone at state parks.

Ed Crago, an avid outdoorsman from Marion, is concerned with his own protection.

"I've been out bowhunting several times, and I've had to climb trees to get away from dogs," Crago said. "You ain't gonna shoot a deer with a .38 anyway."

DeBard, who lives near Salmonie River State Forest, said she's constantly bothered by hunters and gun enthusiasts illegally shooting near her home. She says it's not fair to make her keep her handgun at home when she walks over to ask the scofflaws to disperse.

Most of the dozen or so residents who spoke at Tuesday's meeting said the rule allowing handguns at state parks should be made permanent. After Riester, David Heflin, of Galveston, was the only other dissenter.

"I have a handgun," Heflin said after the meeting. "But I've never felt the need to carry it."

The state will have another hearing on the handgun rule tonight at Spring Mill State Park in southwestern Indiana. The Natural Resource Commission, an administrative panel, is expected to take a final vote in July.

On Nov. 15, 2006 the ILB had an entry titled "Guns in state parks rule gets first public hearing." Again, Patrick Guinane was the only reporter apparently following the story.

I briefly tried this morning to find the pending guns in state parks rule using the Online Indiana Register search, without success.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 16, 2007 10:37 AM
Posted to Indiana Government