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States took unprecedented action this year to tighten gun laws after last year’s mass shooting at a Connecticut school, two gun-control groups said Monday.
Indiana was among the states that moved in the opposite direction, according to the report released by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
The groups faulted Indiana for allowing firearms to be carried at schools by a school board-authorized person. And the groups said Indiana also made it tougher to prosecute someone who sells a handgun without a license.
Still, Laura Cutilletta, senior staff attorney with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the moves by Indiana and other states that weakened regulations were not as significant as the steps taken by states that toughened rules.
“They’re not good. They’re dangerous laws,” Cutilletta said of the actions by Indiana and other states. “But they don’t revise the gun laws in a major way.”
By contrast, the groups said, eight states enacted major gun reforms. Those included requirements that gun owners report lost or stolen guns to the police, new or tougher rules on gun and ammunition sales, and stronger assault weapons laws.
“Many states have listened to the will of the American people . . . where Congress has not,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
