INDIANAPOLIS — Legislation that would bar local units of government from restricting firearms is raising questions about how it would impact sporting events in publicly owned facilities, including the venue that is home to the 2012 Super Bowl.
Under the bill, municipal corporations — such as the one that owns Lucas Oil Stadium and Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis — would be barred from banning guns in those facilities, as is the current practice.
Among those who’ve voiced opposition to the bill are the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns and Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay. Irsay sent out a tweet on the social media site, Twitter, late last week opposing the gun bill and asking others to join him.
Irsay’s tweet said: “Someones got a bill n Ind.State Legislature making it illegal 4 CIB 2 stop some1 from bringing a gun into Luc Oil,I’m against it,so should u.”
CIB is the acronym for the Capital improvement Board, a municipal corporation that operates the Indiana Convention Center and Indianapolis’ professional sports venues, including Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse and Victory Field.
The bill to which Irsay referred is Senate Bill 292, which preempts local regulations on firearms. It passed in the Senate on Monday and now moves on to the House.
There are exemptions in the bill for courthouses and schools. But local regulations banning guns in libraries, parks and municipal buildings without courts, including stadiums and arenas, would be void.
CIB board member Brenda Myers, who represents Boone, Hendricks and Hamilton counties on the board, said CIB members are concerned about the bill’s impact.
“With the size of our buildings, and the number of people who come into them, it causes us great concern that we could not put restrictions in place to ensure those spaces are safe,” Myers said.
Myers said the bill, as currently written, raises more questions for municipal corporations that own facilities than it answers. Among them are the insurance and security costs, both of which could rise.
“We really don’t know what the impact could be,” Myers said.
The co-author of the gun bill, state Sen. Brent Steele, a Republican from Bedford, said fears about the bill are overblown.
He said that while the bill would bar CIB and other municipal corporations, as well as counties, cities and town corporations from restricting legal firearms from being brought into most of their facilities, it would not restrict a private organization staging an event from barring weapons. Steele said the Colts organization could choose to put that restriction in a contract with the CIB. “The Colts could bar a ticket holder from wearing the color green if they wanted to,” Steele said
Lucas Oil Stadium is the site of the 2012 Super Bowl. But even if the gun bill is passed, national security concerns would trump the state law. That’s because the Super Bowl has been designated a “National Special Security Event” overseen by the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI. Federal agents will set up a security perimeter with multiple checkpoints to screen for weapons.
Steele the concerns about the CIB-owned facilities had been “worked out.” But CIB board members apparently still had concerns, and voted on Monday — the day the bill was passed out of the Senate — to have the legislation clarified as to how it would impact entertainment and sports facilities owned by local units of government.
The bill as it’s currently written doesn’t contain language that addresses contracts or agreements with municipal corporations.
The bill is being vehemently opposed by the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns that says the bill robs local communities from making decisions on how best to protect their communities.
State Sen. Tim Lanane, a Democrat who is also the city attorney in Anderson, is also an opponent. He, too, thinks the bill strips local governments of their “home rule” rights to restrict firearms in public venues.
But he thinks that opposition will fall on deaf ears. “It’ll take somebody big to stop this,” Lanane said. “I’m not convinced that opposition from every mayor and city council in the state could halt this.”
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