Ballard Administration Says City Need Not Follow 2nd Amendment: Mayor Attempts To Alienate Every Last Republican Prior to Re-Election Attempt

Previously WISH-TV reported that Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard supported the City adopting a gun registration policy similar to New York City. Later A few months later, the Indianapolis Star in February of this year ran an article that showed Indianapolis had one of the strictest gun return policies in the Midwest. Even when guns are possessed legally by homeowners and wrongly taken by police, the City of Indianapolis still requires the homeowner to be fingerprinted to get their guns back, even though this is not a requirement of the original possession. In some cases the City will run ballistics testing on the gun that had been improperly seized even when there is no evidence that the homeowner or the gun was involved in a crime. Supposedly the fingerprinting is done for the purpose of identification, a highly disingenous argument since the City admits using fingerprinting to search criminal databases and there are plenty of other was of identifying identity besides using fingerprints. There is no explanation why ballistics testing is done.

The Star article cites the case of my client Grady Scott who had his legally owned guns seized when the police officers searched the wrong house. The City refused to return Scott's guns unless he underwent fingerprinting. Allegedly they also did ballistics testing on the gun, although they had no evidence the guns were used in a crime. Then, although notified of a potential lawsuit, the City went ahead and destroyed Mr. Scott's guns.

In a new development in that case, the Ballard administration is now taking the position that the City does not have to comply with the 2nd Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Admittedly the issue is up in the air, with recent decisions in the 9th Circuit saying that the 2nd Amendment applies to states and and the 7th Circuit saying otherwise. As the Supreme Court determined last year that the 2nd Amendment did provide for an individual right to gun possession that the District of Columbia needs to follow, it seems almost certain that the Court will extend the application of the 2nd Amendment to states and their city subunits.

Regardless of whether that happens, there is certainly nothing preventing Mayor Ballard from taking a pro-2nd Amendment position while the United States Supreme Court inevitably sets to weigh in on the issue. But once again, Mayor Ballard has chosen to thumb his nose at gun owners, probably the most loyal Republican group of voters there is. Along with his constant effort to raise taxes to give money away to professional sports teams, Mayor Ballard's goal appears to be to alienate every last Republican prior to his expected re-election effort in 2011. This appears to be the one goal the Mayor is succeeding in.

See also: Mayor Ballard Backs Registration for Indianapolis Gun Owners (12/20/2008)