The Exponent


08-24-2004	Previous edition: 08-23-2004

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Local legislators debate assault weapons issue

By Brent Forgues
City Editor

Local candidates and gun owners have different views on the federal assault weapons ban.

The ban is set to expire on Sept. 13 and prohibits the sale and possession by citizens of certain semi-automatic weapons.

State Rep. Candidate Jeff Crites, R — Lafayette, said he is against having a ban on assault weapons.

"The law is saying that we’re not smart enough to train ourselves," Crites said.

An Air Force veteran who grew up owning a weapon, Crites said his father and Boy Scouts trained him to use it correctly.

However, he did support laws banning those with criminal records from owning weapons.

"You want to keep them out of the hands of the bad guys," he said. "If you have a criminal record and you’ve done jail time, you don’t need a weapon. I wouldn’t feel comfortable as a citizen, and I don’t want the bad guys to have them.

"But should the good guys have them? You bet."

Crites said he would like to let people control the issue more and minimize federal regulations, voting against a ban on assault weapons at the federal and state level if possible.

Sheila Klinker, D — Lafayette, said the state legislature should carefully look at a local ban on assault weapons if the federal government does not act.

Klinker said people should be able to have a gun legally, but the state should be careful when restricting them.

The state has taken some measures to regulate gun control in the past by making all of the gun ordinances in every county in Indiana the same, she said; however, "if it’s done on the federal level, we shouldn’t fool with it. I would prefer it on a federal level so you don’t have to deal with it state to state."

Klinker said the recent death of a police officer in Indianapolis was one reason to consider the dangers of assault weapons.

"It’s very difficult to go against someone who has an assault weapon," she said. "They can take a lot of people down with one fell swoop."

Professor David Koltick, head adviser and rifle coach of the Purdue Rifle and Pistol Club, said he supports many of the laws Indiana has concerning gun regulation and said it is a model state. However, Koltick said the federal ban on assault weapons has achieved little.

The ban’s regulations, such as restricting ownership of weapons having hand grips and bayonet capabilities on a weapon, have made it ineffective, he said.

"(The ban) is sun setting because it has had no effect on crime."

He said Gary is the one city in Indiana that has stricter regulations. "And they have the highest murder rate," he said. "It just has the opposite correlation.

"The ban has just done the reverse and the average criminal has access to machine guns and the citizens have nothing. We’ve had a ten year experiment now and it hasn’t done anything."

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Local legislators debate assault weapons issue

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