03-27-17 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING MARCH 27, 2017 Councilmember Ferlic responded, Sure. Again, I think the presentation might have skewed things, but the resolution goes straight into how the City can protect the lives of its citizens and at the same time protect gun owners' Second Amendment rights, and then it goes into "Indiana does not require private sellers who are not federally licensed dealers to initiate a background check before transferring a firearm." And then it just simply talks about just closing the loophole. I apologize that the presentation might have gotten a little bit off - subject, but I think the resolution language is strong. At this time, I think it is very simple and clear, in terms of what it requests, and I'd love to go forward. Councilmember Regina Williams- Preston stated, What I like about this is that the resolution says that we encourage that dialogue about finding the solution to gun violence. I like that it is broader, because what I would like to do is see more dialogue that's not just about regulating who gets a gun and who doesn't. Councilmember Williams- Preston stated that she wanted to get at the root causes of abusive or murderous behavior of perpetrators once they have a gun. She stated, Because I'm a "guns don't kill people, people kill people" person. What I see in the schools is that we need more money for social workers, for counselors, for conflict resolution. I think there's a lot of work to be done on the front end. So, that's honestly what I like about this, because it's broad enough to include those kinds of sensible solutions. Councilmember John Voorde stated that a lot of good information has come from the evening's discussion. Councilmember Voorde stated, A thing everybody can agree on is that we abhor rising violence in society; there is proliferation of guns, legal or illegal; we all want to increase our own feeling of personal safety and safety of the law enforcement officers that are holding that thin blue line. I don't think there's any rush to do this, even if we agree that something ought to be done, because it's too late to do anything before the legislature this year, anyway. Councilmember Voorde agreed with Councilmember Davis, stating that taking the time to discuss the matter may be beneficial to all involved. He stated, I think if the Health and Public Safety Committee is willing to hold at least one (1) meeting where we don't have three (3) or five (5) minute restrictions for those either for or against this kind of thing, it would be worthwhile. Councilmember Voorde stated that he would be willing to make a motion to continue to Abril 24th. 2017. Councilmember Broden stated that she is a co- sponsor of this bill and that she has been public on this issue for the past year and a half. It was one of the first issues she pushed for while running for a seat in the Council. She echoed Councilmember Ferlic in highlighting the resolution's call to continue debate. She voiced agreement with Liam Dalton who had commented earlier, stating, We go forward from here, as a community. The voices on both sides have the responsibility in the coming months to chime in to your elected leaders. Let's keep the focus. This is not just for the State of Indiana and our legislators down in Indianapolis, but it is also asking on the federal level for some attention. This is a poke, in my opinion. It's a poke saying that we want intelligent dialogue on this. Councilmember Broden stated that she is ready to vote on this bill, adding that a meeting with the Health and Public Safety Committee would be more of a burden than a productive step. Councilmember Randy Kelly stated that as a co- sponsor, he is ready to move forward with the bill. Councilmember Kelly stated, I find it difficult to imagine why we would postpone a resolution that simply says that we're encouraging dialogue. The gentleman who spoke against this resolution doesn't want gun violence anymore than I do, and they have some wonderful ideas with regard to this dialogue as to how we can help. He perhaps knows more, as a police officer, as to how we can perhaps mitigate some of the gun violence. We could be talking together about these things. We're asking our State legislators to do that, because, as you've pointed out, we can't create the laws here as a municipality. Councilmember Kelly stated that it's been pointed out that it's difficult for law abiding citizens to attain a firearm, "as it should be." He added that he saw nothing in this resolution that made it any harder for those same citizens. Councilmember Dr. Varner stated that he was in agreement with Councilmember Davis. He stated, When we had the conflict between the Sierra Club and the AEP, we sat people down from both sides and we came to a resolution that was acceptable to everybody. Part of the problem that I have with this resolution is that when it comes to us backed by one (1) group of people with one (1) basic agenda, I think you tend to own it so much that you don't want to see changes to it. WN