Ordinance 11-15

This ordinance amends the Bloomington Municipal Code as a consequence of Senate Enrolled Act 292. The ordinance amends existing sections 2.04.030, 11.04.050, and Section 11.08.300 and inserts sections 2.04.225 and 2.05.020(14). The Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Enrolled Act 292 during its spring 2011 session. Said Act has an effective date of July 1, 2011. The Act created a new chapter within the Indiana Code, Chapter, 35-47-11.1. This new Chapter specifically prohibits a political subdivision from regulating the possession of or carrying of a firearm by any person. Bloomington Municipal Code Section 2.04.030 allows for the sergeant-at-arms to ask any person carrying a firearm at a council meeting to relinquish his/her firearm. Bloomington Municipal Code Section 11.04.050 prohibits any person from carrying a firearm in the limits of Lake Lemon. Bloomington Municipal Code section 11.08.300 prohibits a person from using a firearm in the Lake Griffy area. Because the newly enacted Indiana Code Chapter 35-47-11.1 makes the aforementioned City municipal code sections void, this ordinance is being passed so that the municipal code accurately reflects the status of the law within the Bloomington community. This new Chapter states that political subdivisions are not prevented from the enactment or enforcement of a provision prohibiting or restricting the intentional display of a firearm at a public meeting and the City chooses to prohibit that conduct at all of its public meetings.