Tony Cook

IndyStar

An Indiana lawmaker has filed a measure that would make it easier for alcohol offenders to get a handgun license.

Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadesville, wants to remove a restriction that prohibits “alcohol abusers” from getting a license. The measure, Senate Bill 36, also would prohibit questions about drunken driving violations on handgun license applications or in interviews.

“I don’t understand the connection between a DUI and obtaining a handgun license,” Tomes said. “If a person is an upstanding individual who is leaving a wedding reception or an anniversary party or is a husband and wife is out on a dinner date and has too much to drink, well, how would that compute to: Now you shouldn’t have a license to own a handgun?”

But the proposal is already garnering concern from gun control advocates and some local law enforcement officials.

“Getting rid of (the restriction) is a bad idea because it targets people who are most likely to abuse alcohol and it protects us from people who have been in treatment facilities,” said Jody Madeira, a law professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in Bloomington and a legislative advocate with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “The bill allows people with multiple convictions or multiple trips through the system to get guns.”

Lawmakers kick off this year's General Assembly on Tuesday.

State law currently prohibits “alcohol abusers” from obtaining licenses, which are required to carry a handgun in public in most circumstances. The law defines “alcohol abusers” as persons with two or more alcohol-related offenses within three years, including at least one that has resulted in a conviction or treatment in an alcohol abuse facility.

Tomes argues that the law is redundant because a second DUI offense results in a felony. Federal law already prohibits felons from obtaining handguns.

But Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry said alcohol-related offenses also could include misdemeanor public intoxication convictions and diversions to alcohol treatment programs.

“In general, I think it is just entirely the wrong message at a time when the emphasis should be on further analyzing and restricting the circumstances under which individuals can obtain weapons or handgun permits,” he said. “I don’t think it’s unreasonable that someone with two alcohol-related offenses in a three-year period has forfeited their right to carry a handgun.”

The proposal comes as Indianapolis grapples with a record number of homicides, many of them fueled by gun violence. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department investigated at least 144 criminal homicides in 2015, making it the city's deadliest year on record.

Curry said the proposal to ease handgun restrictions on alcohol offenders is troubling because alcohol often accompanies acts of violence.

“Clearly in any number of circumstances, whether it’s a fistfight or an argument in a bar or domestic violence or even homicide, in some number of those circumstances there are drugs or alcohol involved,” he said.

Tomes’ bill would leave handgun license prohibitions on drug offenders intact.

The Indianapolis Star reached out to several advocates of gun rights, including the National Rifle Association and the Indiana State Rifle and Pistol Association, but they did not respond to messages.

Tomes said the NRA is aware of the bill and does not oppose it.

Tomes is a longtime supporter of gun rights. He founded a local advocacy group, 2nd Amendment Patriots, which received the NRA’s Grassroots Organization of the Year Award in 2000. He authored a measure last year that legalized manufactured sawed-off shotguns and another in 2014 that allowed guns in parked cars on school property.

Madeira said she sees Tomes’ newest bill as part of a broader nationwide effort to roll back restrictions on criminals. She pointed to a case that the U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to take up involving two Maine men who say their guilty pleas for domestic violence should not disqualify them from owning guns.

“Gun advocates are trying to chip away at ways in which state laws penalize people who commit certain crimes and keep them from getting guns,” she said.

Capt. Dave Bursten, a spokesman for the Indiana State Police, which issues handgun licenses, said the agency doesn’t comment on pending legislation. He couldn’t say how many applications are rejected annually because of alcohol offenses.

But a fiscal note accompanying the measure said the State Police rejected 255 handgun license applications last year because of false statements regarding alcohol abuse.

The State Police approve an average of about 81,500 handgun licenses annually.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Call Star reporter Tony Cook at (317) 444-6081. Follow him on Twitter: @indystartony.