Gun law author: Gun owners must act responsibly

Updated 02:57 p.m., Sunday, September 25, 2011

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — The lawmaker who wrote Indiana's new prohibition on most local gun restrictions says it wasn't designed to protect gun owners such as the one who is suing the city of Evansville after being evicted from a zoo, but he sees no need to change the statute.

Sen. Jim Tomes, R-Wadeville, said he was "furious" when a man refused to conceal a handgun holstered at his hip while at the Mesker Park Zoo earlier this month. Police said they escorted the man out of the zoo because he "started causing a scene."

"A responsible person doesn't do that," Tomes told the Evansville Courier & Press for a story Sunday (http://bit.ly/nhkjrK ). "We have our rights. We hear a lot about that. But we also have obligations and responsibilities, and that requires us to conduct ourselves in a manner that would not generate alarm out in public."

The man escorted from the zoo, Benjamin A. Magenheimer of Evansville, has sued the city, claiming police violated the new state law. He is seeking financial damages, a court declaration finding that the city's actions were illegal, and an injunction preventing future such actions by the city.

The law, which took effect July 1, prohibits local ordinances that ban firearms from most locations, such as libraries and parks. It exempts schools, public hospitals, buildings that house courts and those that have metal detectors and security officers at every entrance.

Tomes said he didn't intend for the law to increase the number of guns in public, but to allow gun owners to keep their firearms nearby without worrying whether they were breaking local laws.

"It's not that they want it in the zoo; it's that they want it with them when they travel. It's not that they need it in a city park or that they need it in the library; it's that they want it on their person when they're out and about," he said.

Rep. Gail Riecken, a Democrat who formerly served as Evansville's parks director, voted against the new law. She said the zoo incident did not surprise her.

"This is really going to come to bear on the community of people that enjoy firearms to make sure that they can educate people — to say that, 'Look, you have a duty and a responsibility to behave appropriately,'" she said.

She said if situations similar to the one that occurred in the zoo happen again, the new law could cause confusion for police officers who respond to an incident and can't tell "who's the good guy and who's the bad guy."

"I respect the rights of gun owners, but at some point you've got to respect the other people that are in the room," Riecken said. "The rest of us have rights, too. I think we have a right to feel safe and secure in our environment, especially when our children are around, and this law takes that away."

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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com