The Vanderburgh County Sheriff says he supports second amendment rights AND universal background checks.
Sheriff Dave Wedding released a two-page statement following an article on guns in the Evansville Courier and Press.
Wedding says he’s a long term National Rifle Association member and supporter, and he believes in gun owner rights for hunting and self-defense.
But he says he’s also among what he calls a majority of NRA members who support universal background checks for gun ownership.
Indiana House Bill 1643 aims to defund the current gun permit statute in Indiana by abolishing the application fee.
NRA Indiana Director Chris Kopacki was quoted as saying, "There is no good reason why an honest, hard-working gun owner should be forced to pay $125 to exercise a fundamental right that ought to free."
But Wedding says unfortunately, the only way to determine whether a potential handgun permit holder is "honest" is by conducting a background check.
The Democrat says if everyone who applied for a handgun permit were honest, the process would be unnecessary.
Wedding said some handgun permit applicants lie about their criminal history, they lie about their current substance abuse habits, and they lie about their propensity for violent or emotionally unstable conduct.
