A state lawmaker is calling for tougher state gun laws and more resources for local court officials in the wake of an arrest of an Indiana man armed with an arsenal of weapons on his way to a gay pride event in California.
State Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, said the state failed on multiple levels to enforce a gun ban against James Wesley Howell, a 20-year-old Jeffersonville man arrested by California police who found him in possession of assault weapons and explosives as he headed to a Los Angeles Pride event just hours after the mass shooting in Orlando, Fla.
“Indiana has very, very limited laws on gun safety, and in the case of James Wesley Howell, we utterly failed to enforce our very weak laws,” DeLaney said. “We need to first start enforcing the laws we have and then get serious in January about having some real gun legislation.”
The January reference is to the start of the 2017 session for the Indiana General Assembly, of which DeLaney is a longtime member.
DeLaney called on fellow legislators to pass a series of measures, including a universal background check for gun buyers and a ban on the sale of assault weapons. He said state lawmakers must step in because Congress has failed to act.
“There is literally no hope that Washington will do anything,” DeLaney said, referencing failed votes in the U.S. Senate Monday on federal legislation that would have strengthened background checks and prevented suspected terrorists from purchasing guns.
He doubted, though, whether the Republicans who control the Statehouse would act, saying they and current Gov. Mike Pence have a long record of supporting legislation backed by the National Rifle Association.
“Talking to the Indiana General Assembly and the current governor about making stricter gun laws is a not a great use of our time,” DeLaney said.
Still, he vowed to do so. And he called for strengthening the state’s gun-violation reporting laws and for spending more resources on local courts and probation departments that have to monitor repeat offenders like Howell.
When Howell was arrested, he was under a court order in Clark County stemming from earlier offenses to forfeit all his guns, but local court officials had to yet to verify that he’d done so.
Clark County Chief Probation Officer Jaime Hayden said last week that Howell had his first appointment with the probation office on May 22. At the time, he was identified as a “low-level misdemeanor risk” and denied having weapons.
A second appointment, which Hayden said would have been more in depth, was scheduled for June 15, but at the time Howell was in an L.A. County jail on a $2 million bond. Had there been any red flags during a second meeting, Hayden said the probation office could have requested a surprise at-home visit to look for weapons.
DeLaney also said the Indiana State Police, which maintains a statewide crime-reporting system, hadn’t been properly notified of the court orders that barred Howell from possessing weapons while on probation. DeLaney said he’ll introduce legislation to mandate better crime reporting into the ISP system.
DeLaney also said he’ll push to get more money for county probation departments, which will soon absorb major changes to Indiana’s criminal sentencing laws made in recent years by the Legislature. The changes bar judges from sending the lowest-level offenders into state prisons and instead require them to direct those offenders into probation and community corrections. The Legislature mandated the changes but has allocated little money to local communities to absorb the extra work.
Howell faces weapons and ammunition charges in California. He also faces a child molestation charge in Clark County, stemming from an investigation that began in May. In that case, Howell is accused of having sex with a 12-year-old girl in Clark State Forest in Henryville on May 31. Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull previously told the News and Tribune, a CNHI paper based in Jeffersonville, that he believes Howell fled to California after learning about the investigation of that allegation.
Police in Santa Monica reported finding weapons in Howell’s car when he was arrested, including a loaded assault rifle with magazines rigged to allow 60 shots to be fired in quick succession. They also found 15 pounds of chemicals mixed and ready to explode.
News and Tribune reporter Elizabeth DePompei contributed to this report.