LONDON, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — Incidents of gun violence, like the shooting in London. this weekend that left five injured, are often followed by calls to action. However, creating restrictions around guns has often not been a popular idea in Frankfort.
“You can’t harden yourself out of a situation like that, and it’s clear that something must be done,” Kentucky Moms Demand Action chapter volunteer Cathy Hobart told FOX 56 News.
“There is no room for compromise in the Commonwealth of Kentucky on our Second Amendment rights,” Rep. Savannah Maddox (R-Dry Ridge) told FOX 56.
When it comes to gun policy in Kentucky, there’s little to say. Kentucky does bar gun possession for convicted felons. According to the National Rifle Association, the state does not require a permit to purchase, nor does it require registration of firearms or licensing of owners, and gun owners are free to open or conceal carry without a permit within state lines.
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To some Second Amendment supporters, this approach is welcomed, but advocates like Cathy Hobart believe Kentucky lawmakers don’t take gun violence prevention seriously.
“Making sure that we do a background check on all gun sales, making sure that we have a law in place that would be able to remove guns from people that we know are dangerous to themselves or others. Having a secure storage law,” Hobart said, listing some of what she considers “foundational” policies. “You know, some of those kinds of policies we know prevent gun violence. Whether they would have worked in this particular case, we don’t know,” Hobart said.
Hobart pointed to actions as recent as a June Supreme Court ruling in US v. Rahimi that backed the view the government can remove guns from dangerous people. A similar red flag proposal sponsored by Sen. Whitney Westerfield (R-Fruit Hill) never received a vote this year in Frankfort. Rep. Maddox was one opponent.
“It is a function of not allowing for due process. So, I’m going to continue to oppose that. And I do have concerns about reactionary politicization on behalf of my colleagues to an incident of this nature,” Maddox told FOX 56.
Maddox argued that creating more restrictions is not an answer for law-abiding citizens who are defending themselves from lawlessness.
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“We know that things like waiting periods, in addition to creating an additional barrier for law-abiding citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights, there is no evidence that they reduce crime or suicides or anything of that nature. So the evidence is not there. But even if it were, we have to uphold the Constitution,” she said.
If lawmakers were to consider any future gun policy, it would have to wait until the session returns in 2025.
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