INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett was one of hundreds of mayors across the country to join a letter calling for the United States Senate to act on gun safety legislation.
Hogsett, as well as 236 other mayors, are pushing for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to call the Senate back into session and consider two bills that have already passed the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 8 and H.R. 1112.
H.R. 8 would establish new background check requirements for gun sales, prohibiting sales between private parties unless a licensed dealer first conducts a background check. It passed the House, 240-190.
H. R. 1112 would extend the background check review period deadline from three to 10 business days. It passed the House, 228-198.
“If this bill had been law in 2015, the terrible tragedy that occurred at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston might have been avoided,” the letter states.
The Indiana mayors who have signed the letter include Hogsett, D-Indianapolis; James Brainard, R-Carmel; Karen Freeman, D-Gary; Tom Henry, D-Fort Wayne; and Pete Buttigieg, D-South Bend.
This week, U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., became one of the first Senate Republicans to push for a federal red flag law. Indiana’s red flag law allows courts to issue orders to bar somebody from possessing guns if they’re deemed potentially dangerous.
