From what my friends in Indiana tell me, folks in their state really love their guns. I can respect this for obvious reasons. However, one important bit of pro-gun legislation the state lacks–much like a number of other states–is permitless carry.

Also called constitutional carry, the measure would eliminate the requirement to have a carry permit–hence “permitless.”

It’s not like lawmakers in the state haven’t tried. They’ve been working on it for years now.

But they’re going for it again.

Indiana Republican lawmakers are working to reintroduce legislation that would allow many Hoosiers to carry handguns without a permit.

Several lawmakers in both the Indiana House and Senate are writing bills.

Known as “constitutional carry” or “permitless carry,” it’s a change to Indiana law some Republican legislators have been working on for years.

“It’s still to me, it’s an infringement of our constitutional rights to mandate, require somebody to jump through hoops, go get fingerprinted, pay a fee – you still have to pay to get your fingerprints done – wait God only knows how long,” said State Rep. Jim Lucas (R-Seymour), one of the lawmakers planning to introduce this type of bill.

…

It would still prevent anyone not allowed to carry a gun now from doing so, Lucas said.

“If you’re a felon, this doesn’t apply to you,” said Guy Relford, founder and CEO of The 2A Project, a gun rights organization. “If you’ve been convicted, even of a misdemeanor crime, of domestic violence, this doesn’t apply to you. If you’ve been adjudicated to be mentally ill, this doesn’t apply to you.”

Of course, the usual types are claiming that the bill will make folks in Indiana less safe, which is pretty much what they always do. But, as I noted in a post on Thursday, they always talk about the streets running red with blood, but it never does.

They just like to scare people into accepting restrictions on their rights.

My sincere hope is that Indiana gets this passed. Now, if only one state becomes a permitless carry state in 2022, I’d prefer it be Georgia for purely selfish reasons, but since there’s no reason to believe only one can, I hope both do.

As for Indiana, though, it remains to be seen whether the general assembly will pass it.

The state is heavily Republican with the GOP holding a significant majority in both chambers of the legislature. If that were enough, though, Indiana would already have permitless carry, as would a number of other states. However, that just isn’t enough.

I don’t really know what would be enough, either.

We’ll have to see how things break down after the first of the year and see if this is going to happen. If not, it may be time to replace some Republican lawmakers with ones who will actually respect your right to keep and bear arms.

Remember, just because they have an “R” after their name, it doesn’t mean they’re good on the Second Amendment. It just means they have to pay lip service to it if they want to be elected.