President Obama is scheduled to make an announcement on gun regulations Tuesday morning, expected to include executive orders that may affect how guns are sold, which could affect an unregulated type of sale that takes place throughout Indiana.
IU Professor and former head of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence Paul Helmke expects Obama to use his executive order to reinterpret existing laws, which would then affect open air gun markets.
Helmke says open air gun markets allow sellers to avoid federal background checks and paperwork by selling guns as an individual seller as a gun show.
"They come in with their so-called private collection, which consists of dozens or hundreds of the same make and model of guns," he says. "They sell those one weekend in Indianapolis, one weekend in Fort Wayne. Perhaps the next weekend in Columbus, Ohio."
Helmke says another executive order could require those with lost and stolen guns to report their missing firearms after they go missing, similar to an ordinance passed by the Indianapolis City Council stating lost and stolen guns would need to be reported within 48 hours. Former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard vetoed the bill on Christmas Eve, calling it “contrary to state law.”
An executive order overrides state legislation.