Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, caused a stir at Monday’s Third House session while answering a question posed by a 12-year-old student from ABC-Stewart School in Columbus.
Student president Jackson Brewer, a sixth-grader, asked the four legislators attending the Third House session at Donner Center, including Lucas, Rep. Ryan Lauer, R-Columbus, Sen. Greg Walker, R-Columbus and Sen. Eric Koch, R-Bedford, about their opinions on pending state legislation that would allow teachers to receive handgun training if they so desired and permit retired law enforcement officers to carry firearms on school property.
Lucas told the nearly 60 people in audience, including four ABC Stewart students, that he believes gun control laws won’t prevent school shootings, training teachers to use firearms can make schools safer and that a federal court has ruled “police do not have a duty to protect children while they are being slaughtered.”
After Lucas answered Brewer’s question, the student had a follow-up question: “Do you believe the more guns that are being carried, including in this room, would make my classmates and I safer?”
Lucas immediately said “absolutely” and then told the crowd “I’m carrying right now. Does that scare anybody?”
Around 20 people, or roughly a third of those in the room, raised their hands to signal that it scared them. Several other people said “yes” without raising their hands. There also were a few people who said “no.”
After the event, Lucas said he was carrying a .50-caliber 1911 handgun at the Third House session, adding that he carries a firearm everywhere he goes — including in the Indiana House of Representatives chamber and in the Statehouse. Donner Center, where Third House was held, is a Columbus city parks facility.
Lucas has repeatedly said Indiana should only have one gun law, Article 1 Section 32 of the Constitution which states “the people shall have a right to bear arms, for the defense of themselves and the state.”
“So you consider me a threat, but I’m not going to threaten anybody,” said Lucas said to the audience during the Third House session. “…I encourage everybody, one, take it serious, train and carry and be able to defend yourself because now it’s a morality issue. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I cannot fathom me expecting another person, a police officer, a total stranger, to risk their life to save mine when it’s perfectly within my ability to do so.”
He continued, “Police do not have a duty to protect you. You are on your own as ruled by the United States Supreme Court. Period,” he added.
For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Republic.
