Indianapolis—
If some lawmakers have their way pretty soon you'll be able to carry a gun just about everywhere in Indiana.Under the bill, local government would no longer be able to restrict firearms in municipal buildings without courts. That means licensed gun owners could bring their firearms into libraries, parks, arenas like Conseco Fieldhouse and even Lucas Oil Stadium, home to the 2012 Super Bowl.
"It's a very serious bill," said Jennifer Simmons, of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns.
The agency, she said, is vehemently opposed. She said it takes local control away from a potentially deadly situation.
"It would take away our ability to regulate where one could take a firearm and where one could discharge a firearm," Simmons said.
Even Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay is weighing in by tweeting, "someone's got a bill in the Indiana state legislature making it illegal for the CIB to stop someone from bringing a gun into Lucus Oil. I'm against it, so should you."
"I know folks are trying to put more into this than what it is," said the bill's sponsor, Senator Jim Tomes.
He said that his opponents have got it all wrong.
"We want to take the burden off the legitimate citizen," Tomes said.
He said since ordinances vary from city to city, he wants to ensure the law is the same across the board.
"Who could possibly know this monumental maze of patchwork ordinances and rules that do nothing more than snare the good folks?"
Those good folks, he said, are the licensed gun owners. Tomes theory is the more of them we have in venues around the state, the safer our society will be.
"Your fellow Hoosier that has that firearm if something happens they are your first responder because they're right next to you shoulder to shoulder when it happens."
