INDIANAPOLIS — The upcoming legislative session starts Monday, Jan. 8.
Lawmakers have already been filing bills to be considered.
A handful of those bills deal with guns.
One proposal, Senate Bill 24, would increase the minimum age to buy from 18 to 21. The bill is authored by State Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-District 2.
Randolph is also the author of another bill dealing with guns and polling places.
2024 is a presidential election year. It's also the year Hoosiers will pick their next governor, a United States senator and several U.S. representatives.
Senate Bill 26 would prohibit someone from carrying a gun in any room where ballots are being counted, certain areas where voters could gather and at the polls themselves. It would also ban someone from having a gun in the 50-foot area leading up to the polls. That area is called a "chute."
A person who not only violates the proposed law by having a gun in the restricted areas, but then points the gun at someone, could be looking at a prison term of six months to 2 1/2 years.
In Indiana, voters are allowed to bring guns into a voting location, unless it's a school or a private space where firearms are not allowed.
Randolph proposed a similar measure in 2022. That bill never received a hearing.
There's also a proposed bill that would require private gun sales to go through background checks at a firearms store.
"It's a quick and painless process, but it would make sure, we're really ensuring that the people who can carry firearms are meeting the requirements to do so," said State Sen. Andrea Hunley, D-District 46, who proposed Senate Bill 66.
The bill would also require dealerships to display a sign warning that failure to store a gun safely is a safety risk to children.
"This is also a signal to the dealer to also ask that customer, pause in that moment and say, 'Oh, ma'am. Just want to make sure you have a way to secure this gun? Do you have children in the home?'" Hunley said.
Another bill, Senate Bill 95, would give local cities and towns in Indiana the ability to pass ordinances to regulate firearms in their communities, more than state law does.
"My legislation requires law enforcement to make the recommendation and the recommendations to be supported by the local community before the legislative body can act on it," said the bill's author, State Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-District 30.
Two years ago, Indiana lawmakers passed a law that eliminated the licensing requirement to openly carry a gun in Indiana. Last year, the city of Indianapolis passed an ordinance that would have restored that licensing requirement in Marion County.
The same ordinance also raised the age to buy a gun to 21 and banned semi-automatic assault rifles. The ordinance was not enforceable because state law takes precedence over local laws.
NOTE: This story was updated to remove churches from the list of places firearms are not allowed. It also clarified that the permitless carry law eliminated the licensing requirement to openly carry a gun, not to buy a gun, as previously reported.
