On Tuesday, May 22, by a one-vote margin, the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council’s Rules and Public Safety Committee narrowly approved Proposal 174 – a measure that would severely restrict the lawful discharge of firearms within the consolidated city-county boundary.
More specifically, Proposal 174 arbitrarily establishes that private property owners must have a minimum of five acres, zoned for agriculture, in order to lawfully hunt and/or target practice. While this measure exempts conservation club shooting ranges, it only “grandfathers” those in existence as of January 1, 2007. Simply put, this proposal will prohibit the future establishment of conservation clubs within the consolidated city-county limits.
With more and more obstacles facing law-abiding hunters and sportsmen, this would be a crippling blow to hunting and sport shooting in the Indianapolis area.
Proposal 174 now goes before the full City-County Council for consideration – possibly as soon as Monday, June 11! Please contact your City-County Councillor and strongly encourage him or her to reject Proposal 174, and focus on enforcing existing state law that addresses the reckless use or dangerous discharge for firearms.
Contact information and District maps can be found at http://www.indygov.org/. Please be sure to alert your family, friends and fellow Second Amendment supporters as well as encourage them to contact their Councillor.