Pence praised Indiana's gun laws, one week before Noblesville school shooting

A week before a student and a teacher were injured in today's Noblesville West Middle School shooting, Vice President Mike Pence praised Indiana's gun laws during a tax event in Indianapolis.

"We call on states to follow the example of Indiana and give families in law enforcement the tools they need to help stop mass shootings before they happen," Pence said. "And we call on states to follow the example of Indiana and allowed qualified school personnel to carry concealed firearms."

Indiana allows school teachers and administration to bring a firearm into a school, if the school board chooses to allow it. However, Noblesville School's employee handbook doesn't contain any policy stating that the district allows it.

Jason Seaman, a teacher at Noblesville West Middle School, was shot after intervening to help stop the shooter, parents said. He and a teenage student were transported to a hospital and the suspect is in custody.

At least one school in Indiana allows administration and school board members to carry firearms if they go through training, but the option is not used in most other Indiana schools.

More: Indiana schools can arm teachers, but most don't. More might start.

More: Noblesville will review parents' call for 'safest school in America' security system

Indiana also has a "red flag" law, that allows police to temporarily confiscate firearms from people who are threatening to harm themselves or others, without a warrant. It's unclear how that law might have applied in this instance.

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill visited Washington, D.C., earlier this year to boast about what he deemed was a successful law.

After the February shooting in Florida, legislative leaders emphasized that Indiana has laws on the books to keep students safe.

In 2013 Indiana created school safety grants for schools, and the state also requires schools to have an emergency preparedness plan. Indiana schools are also allowed to have school resource officers. One such officer was on the Noblesville campus at the time of the shooting, though neither police nor school officials provided details of any action the officer took.

"Indiana is not Florida," Senate Pro Tempore David Long said. "We have laws on the books that do help, but I don't think it's enough, and i don't think we can do enough to make our schools safer."

But Indiana has also been loosening gun regulations for years. Last year for instance, lawmakers passed a law enabling victims of domestic violence to carry a firearm without a license. During the 2018 legislative session, a couple of lawmakers filed legislation to get rid of firearm permit requirements altogether. That provision never made it out of committee.

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During Pence's speech a week ago he promised that the Trump administration will not stop trying to end school violence during his May 18 speech.

"For all we have done so far, it’s clear we have more work to do," Pence said. "We will not rest, we will not relent, until we end this evil in our time and make our schools safe again.”

Indiana’s Republican-dominated General Assembly just held a one-day special legislative session earlier this month, in part to address school safety issues. Lawmakers approved an additional $5 million in safety improvements grants and made $35 million available for school safety loans. The bill also required school safety audits and allowed schools to barricade doors for three minutes during a fire alarm to investigate an active shooter situation.

But Democrats criticized the legislation for failing to restrict access to guns. Republicans, who have super majorities in both chambers, have loosened gun restrictions in recent years, including a 2014 law that allowed guns in locked cars in school parking lots.

Hours after the Noblesville shooting, Democrats in the Indiana Senate called on lawmakers to impose more restrictions:

“Legislators must admit and take seriously that we have to keep guns out of our schools, and restrict access to deadly weapons by dangerous individuals. No child should go through something this traumatizing and it’s our job to stop it."

Call IndyStar reporter Kaitlin Lange at (317) 432-9270. Follow her on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.