Indiana Dems call for special legislative session in wake of mass shootings
(The Center Square) – Indiana lawmakers have called for Gov. Eric Holcomb to call a special legislative session to deal with the threat of gun violence in the state. The request comes amid a spate of mass shootings in the United States last month that left 74 dead and 307 wounded.
In a letter dated May 27, Democrats in the Indiana Senate cited the mass shootings occurring in Indianapolis and Goshen and multiple incidents when guns were brought to schools to demonstrate the “ever-present and ever-growing threat of gun violence” in the Hoosier state.
A shooting in Goshen on May 21 left two dead and three wounded. Nine people, including the gunman, were killed in a mass shooting at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis in April 2021.
A sixth-grade student at Winding Ridge Elementary School in Indianapolis was detained May 11 after bringing a loaded gun to school, according to a report by WXIN.
The appeal comes in the wake of two high-profile mass shootings in other states last month. A gunman in Buffalo, New York killed 10 people and wounded 3 in a Tops supermarket May 17. A mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas left 22 dead and 17 wounded May 24.
Those mass shootings were among 63 such events in the United States last month alone, according to the Gun Violence Archive. GVA defines mass shooting as an event in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.
The GVA reports 19 mass shootings in the nine days since the Uvalde attack, accounting for 17 deaths and leaving 88 wounded. GVA defines mass shooting as an event in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.
There have been 27 shootings in schools this year resulting in 27 deaths and 56 injuries according to Education Week, which has tracked school shootings since 2018.
Neither Holcomb nor Indiana House of Representatives Todd Huston returned messages seeking comment on the request for a special legislative session.
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