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1400 WUNTY-CITY BUII:DING <br />227 ~ JEFFERSON BOULEVARD <br />SOUTH BEND, INDIANA 46601-1830 <br />CITY OF SOUTH BEND STEPHEN ]. LtJECKE, MAYOR <br />DEPARTMENT OF LAW <br />PHONE 574/ 235-9241 <br />FAx 574/235-9892 <br />TDD 574/ 235-5567 <br />CHARLES S. LEONE ALADEAN M. DEROSE <br />CITYATTORNEY May 5, 2008 CHIEF ASSISTANTCITYATTORNEY <br />Mr. Timothy Rouse <br />President, South Bend Common Council '~~~ ~~ ~ 2 ~- ~ <br />4`~ Floor, County-City Building <br />South Bend, IN 46601 <br />Re: Amendment of Article 10 of Chapter 13 Concerning Firearms <br />Dear Mr. Rouse: <br />On behalf of the administration, I amaskingthatthe Council consider an ordinance to amend <br />Chapter 13, Article 10 of the South Bend Municipal Code. This Article was added in February 1994. <br />Within a few months the Indiana legislature passed a statute which rendered most of the ordinance <br />unconstitutional. In early 2001 the administration also introduced an ordinance to amend this <br />Article. Your predecessors did not take any action on that proposed ordinance. Avery substantial <br />period of time having passed without any other efforts to address this problem, the administration <br />is asking that you consider this amended ordinance so that we may protect the employees of the City <br />of South Bend. <br />The Home Rule powers of all cities having been severely restricted by the State legislature <br />in 1994, it is time that South Bend utilize such powers as remain to protect its employees and others <br />on its property with an ordinance that is clearly constitutional. <br />Attached to this letter is the 1994 law to which I refer and other pertinent statutes. For <br />clarity's sake, I am also attaching an example of what the totality of Article 10 will look like if this <br />proposed ordinance is passed without further amendment. <br />I.C. 35-47-11 clearly negates a city's power to enact legislation concerning weapons except <br />on its own property. Therefore, the first two divisions of the 1994 version of the ordinance are such <br />restrictions and clearly invalid. They have been dropped, and consequently there remains no need <br />for most of the definitions. Only three definitions remain: Firearms, Highway and Security Guard. <br />The first two are taken directly from Indiana statutes so as to absolutely minimize the possibility of <br />overreaching. To the current definition of "Security Guard" I have added the requirement of <br />licensing by the State of Indiana. <br />The City has a duty to reasonably attempt to provide a safe working place for its employees. <br />With that in mind, I have made the prohibition against firearms as broad as legally possible and have <br />THOMAS L. BODNAR CHERYL A. GREENS ANN-CAROL HASH ~` ;'~'~ ,: <br />JEFFREY M. JANKOWSKI SHAWN E. PETERSON JEFFREY L. SANFORD JOHN E. BRDDEN ~ <br />