Don't Get Too Excited But GOP Indianapolis Mayor Candidate Not Entirely Terrible

He supports reasonable gun safety laws! Wow!

Aug 21, 2023

Indiana, which has a shocking level of gun violence, passed a permitless carry law last year and the results have been absolutely disastrous.

“One of the consequences I think that we can — that I’m not opposed to saying is directly related to that is the number of accidental shootings,” IMPD Assistant Chief Chris Bailey said. “I think that is an issue that we can relate directly to this permitless carry [law]. People can go out and buy weapons. They don’t have the bureaucracy that existed before for getting the handgun license. And, you know, they’re not trained or know how to operate or clean the gun properly, or safe handling.”

Yes, indeed, this was real dumb!

With escalating gun violence across the Hoosier State, gun safety has become a big issue in the upcoming Indianapolis mayoral election, but not as you might expect.

The two-term Democratic incumbent Mayor Joe Hogsett announced sweeping reforms in May, including helping private groups enforce “gun-free zones” on public properties and, of course, ditching the state’s goofy permitless carry and concealed carry laws, at least in Marion County. He also proposed hiring three new federal prosecutors to take on violent crime, as well as throwing more money at cops.

The city council voted to pass the mayor’s gun-prevention plan last month. Now, you might assume that his Republican challenger is up in arms and demanding that everyone in town have easier access to arms. But no, the guy is actually talking some sense.

Republican Jefferson Shreve, a multi-millionaire storage executive, has a plan that is very similar to Hogsett’s. He proposes raising the firearm purchase age to 21, ending permitless carry and banning assault-style weapons across the city. This all defies the Republican-controlled General Assembly’s blood-soaked objections against municipalities regulating firearms.

Shreve isn’t some common hippie. The NRA had backed him as recently as 2016 when he unsuccessfully ran for state Senate. Those poor ghouls must feel like they can’t trust anyone. Indianapolis marked its 100th homicide of year in June, and it seems like the rampant gun violence has caused Shreve to reconsider his approach. The NRA calls this “truly pathetic.” You don’t earn “A” ratings from the NRA by learning and evolving.

“I’m not a career politician,” Shreve explained, as if that isn’t obvious by now. “I’m a career chief executive. As a CEO, you have to change course when the facts change or you fail. And the facts on violent crime in Indianapolis have definitely changed. We have to change some policies here in Indianapolis while respecting that different policies will work for other parts of the state.”

“The personal stories from people who’ve been affected by gun violence have had a profound effect on me,” he added. “The people I’ve heard from, like mothers who’ve lost their children, deserve to feel supported.”

Mike Bloomberg strongly advocated for gun safety as the Republican mayor of New York. However, too many Republicans in big cities feel NRA pressure to run as the Yosemite Sam candidate.

Paul Helmke, former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne who was once president of the gun-grabbing Brady Center, argues that Republicans should embrace sensible gun safety solutions if they want to remain competitive in urban areas.

“If Republicans are going to start doing well in cities, they’re going to have to start talking about gun violence prevention,” Helmke said. “If they don’t start proposing things like Shreve is proposing, they’re not going to be able to win in those cities.”

Oh, and it’s also the right thing to do. Republicans could always try that for once.

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?