The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Last month’s fatal shooting of a police officer by a man with a history of mental problems has led to reforms intended to restrict the return of weapons to mentally ill individuals.
Despite those changes, Indianapolis city attorney Scott Chinn said Friday that state lawmakers should take action to try to prevent future shooting sprees like the one that killed Indianapolis Police Officer Timothy “Jake” Laird.
Chinn said lawmakers need to grant judges and police more authority to determine when it is unsafe to return seized weapons to someone who has mental health issues.
“We’re not suggesting that had these laws been in existence Aug. 18 they would have prevented the death of Officer Laird, but there are other cases where this would make a difference,” he said.
Laird was killed Aug. 18 by Kenneth C. Anderson after Anderson went on a shooting rampage using guns that had been taken from him in January. The guns were returned to Anderson in March after police determined there was no legal way to keep them from him.
One of the weapons was a military-style rifle he used to spray his Indianapolis neighborhood with bullets, killing Laird and injuring three other officers.
Anderson, who shot and killed his mother before going on the shooting spree, was later fatally shot by one of the officers he injured.
A report conducted by the city’s legal staff at the request of Mayor Bart Peterson found that city officials followed the proper procedure in returning Anderson’s weapons. But the police department is changing that procedure.
IPD employees will now have to get the consent of Police Chief Jerry Barker and Public Safety Director Robert Turner before seized weapons are returned to anyone suspected of being mentally unstable. Turner and Barker will determine whether there are any alternatives to returning the weapons.
IPD officers have the right to seize firearms during the investigation of crimes and hundreds of times each year the department makes decisions about returning guns.
IPD officials would like to see the state adopt a gun seizure program modeled after programs in Connecticut, Hawaii and California. Those states only allow someone to recover their seized weapons by appearing at a hearing in front of a judge.
State Sen. David Long, R-Fort Wayne, chairman of the Senate Corrections, Criminal and Civil Procedures Committee, said Friday he looks forward to discussing the proposals but concedes it will not be a simple issue.
Marion Superior Court Judge Barbara Collins, a member of the Mental Health Association of Indiana, also predicts it will be a difficult matter to decide.
“You don’t want to be Big Brother but you want to be able to identify the hot spots in the community,” she said.