13 WTHR - Indianapolis News |Gun violence debate comes to IUPUI

Gun violence debate comes to IUPUI

Richard Essex/Eyewitness News

Indianapolis - The head of a national foundation to stop gun violence brought his message to IUPUI Saturday.

Gun violence is blamed for hundreds of deaths every year. According to the Brady Foundation, 32 people are killed everyday by guns and, they say, Indiana makes buying a firearm too easy.

The president of the foundation, former Fort Wayne Mayor Paul Helmke, went face-to-face with students protesting his meeting at IUPUI.

"I always like to have a dialogue," he said.

Helmke was brought to Indianapolis by the Hoosiers Concerned About Gun Violence organization to talk about Indiana's gun laws. The former three-term Republican mayor says Indiana has some of the weakest gun laws in the country.

"We have become the state of choice in the Midwest for criminals that want guns," he said.

Citing the lack of background checks at Indiana gun shows, which he says allows most anyone to buy a gun that can pay for it, guns with Indiana roots are ending up in the hands of criminals all over the country.

"So we end up fourth in the country in terms of crime. Guns that we export to other places, because again, we make it too easy for dangerous people to get guns," Helmke said.

The Brady Campaign is urging tough rules that include increased background checks and more accurate recordkeeping by the courts. According to Helmke, less than half of Indiana's convicted felons are reported to the federal government.

"It's harder for law-abiding citizens to exercise their rights without becoming an illegal gun owner," said one man at the rally.

All of this comes across to some as another attack on their Second Amendment rights and another step away from finding common ground.

"We are all concerned about gun violence. I think the main issue we have with these people is the method of which they use," the man said.