INDIANAPOLIS — Beginning July 1, Hoosiers will be able to carry a handgun in public without a permit.
Some say the permit-less carry bill is needed.
"It's just removing those obstacles for the law-abiding. I don't see a problem with it," the retail manager at Indy Arms Company, Mark Welter, said. "We shouldn't have to pay fees to the government to exercise a constitutional right."
Others who struggle with gun violence are worried.
"I'm terrified," Alexandra Rollo, with the organization Moms Demand Action said. "This makes everyone's life riskier, and it puts our cops in a position where they don't have any leg to stand on. They see somebody with a gun, no longer will the law allow them to question a person. That's crazy."
Those in support of the law say it clears the red tape for legal gun owners.
"We don't put a tax on speech, we don't put a tax on worship, all of those things are enshrined into the constitution. Self-defense is the same thing," Welter said.
Welter said there is a constitutional right when it comes to carrying a gun and that right shouldn't be taxed.
"I've never heard any bad guys pass on doing any criminal activity because my gun permit hasn't arrived yet," Welter said.
Those opposed fear it will create more gun violence and make it tough on police.
"It's going to be a war zone," Donita Royal who lost her son to gun violence said. "The violence is going to skyrocket even higher than what it is now. We have to have order. Some laws do need to be put in place."
A similar measure that created permitless carry went into effect Monday in Ohio.
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