Indiana Governor Approves Bill to Protect Gun Shops, Ranges from Zoning Abuses

Across the country, anti-gun localities are using zoning and business permitting laws to target the lawful commerce in arms and make it more difficult for gun shops and ranges to open for business and even continue to operate. That will soon become much more difficult in Indiana, with Gov. Mike Braun recently signing SB 176 into law. 

The bill provides a couple of protections for firearm retailers and operators of gun ranges. First, it ensures that maintenance, repairs, renovations, and expansions of buildings and range facilities are seen as a continuation of a permitted use and can’t be treated by localities as a basis to  deny, delay, or condition approval of any permit that is otherwise required under applicable building codes or safety regulations.

The bill also guarantees that a retail sporting goods store is a permitted use on each lot or parcel of commercially-zoned property, and that indoor ranges are permitted on all parcels zoned for commercial, industrial, or agricultural use, so long as certain conditions are met. 

If a gun store wants to open up on the town square, it can’t be shunted off to an industrial park on the edge of town through any kind of shenanigans with zoning laws, which we’ve seen in states like Massachusetts. This is a very positive development, and it prevents localities from treating firearm-related businesses as unwelcome members of the community… at least in terms of where these stores can operate. 

Chris Lee, who’s the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Director of Government Relations – State Affairs, calls the Indiana bill a “a vital step to ensuring that law-abiding gun owners have access to safe and state-of-the-art shooting ranges and firearm retail locations.” 

“This law will safeguard ranges and retailers from antigun agenda-driven weaponization of local zoning authorities. These establishments, which are necessary to the exercise of Second Amendment rights, are too often relegated to back corners of industrial parks and country roads that are inconvenient to access for most consumers, including hunters and law enforcement. NSSF is grateful to the Indiana legislature and Governor Braun for ensuring these ranges and retailers are protected so Hoosiers can safely and lawfully exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

The anti-preemption organization Local Solutions Support Center has bashed SB 176, claiming it and other firearm preemption laws “prevent local governments from adopting reasonable gun safety policies.” 

No, what these laws do is prevent localities from coming up with a patchwork quilt of gun ordinances that can easily trip up gun owners, and instead ensures that there is a uniform body of gun laws that apply across an entire state. That’s less of a concern when we’re talking about gun stores and ranges, admittedly, but there is still no reason why any municipality or political subdivision should attempt to negate the exercise of our Second Amendment rights and related activities like purchasing firearms or training with them at a range through zoning laws that are meant to prevent businesses from operating or shunt them off to less desirable real estate. 

The Indiana legislature and Gov. Braun should be commended for taking this step, and other states that currently lack this kind of protection should follow suit as quickly as possible. Even in states that already have firearm preemption laws in place, many of those statutes don’t cover zoning issues, and this language would be of great benefit to FFLs and ranges all across the country. 

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