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LAFAYETTE, Ind. A long-serving state senator representing parts of Tippecanoe County has an apparent easy enough route to the November election and perhaps another term, while a relatively crowded field in another Indiana Senaterace appears on the May 3 Primary ballot.

Senate District 22

State Sen. Ron Alting, a Republican, has served as the 22nd District since 1998. No Democrats have filed to run for the seatin the May 3 election.

During the 2022 legislative session, Alting authored14 billsand two rolutions. He co-authored four bills and 21 resolutions.

In response to the controversies swirling around two Tippecanoe County trustees,Alting co-authored Senate Bill 304, which was signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb and becomes law on July 1. The law creates a path to remove trustees who are unresponsive to constituents.

Alting alsosponsored three bills and two resolutions and co-sponsored three bills and one resolution. In total, hes been involved with 51 pieces of legislation this year.

State Senate District 22 includes West Lafayette, portions of Lafayette and Wabash Township.

Indiana District 23 Sen. Phil Boots of Crawfordsvilleannounced his retirement in 2021 after completing 16 years in office.

The open seat has garnered the attention of four Republican candidates: Bill Webster, Christian Beaver, Paula Copenhaver and Spencer Deery, as well as one Democratic candidate David Sanders.

Sanders, the lone Democrat,is an associate professor of biological sciences at Purdue University and currently serves as anat-large member ofthe West Lafayette City Council.

Sanders's campaign aims to address suchconcerns as investing in the infrastructure of District 23, advocating for veterans and investing in renewable energies.

Webster, opting for a second attemptat theIndiana State Senate seat, ran on the Republican ticket for the District 38 seat in 2010 but lost to Democratic incumbent Timothy Skinner.

Webster currently serves as the Parke County GOP chairman and previously served on the Parke County Planning and Zoning Commission.

Webster is a pro-life candidate also campaigning to reduce taxes, reform education, promote job growth, and protect voters' right to own guns.

Christian Beaver is a project manager at Beaver Construction Management but previously worked as the former leasing manager for Granite Student Living.

Beaver is a pro-life candidate who aims to stop late-term abortions. He also wants to invest in the infrastructure in rural communities, address Indianas drug and mental health crisis, reform education, invest in growing Purdue University and protect voters gun rights.

Paula Copenhaver currently serves as the Fountain County clerk and is a member of the Fountain County Republican Womens Club.

Copenhaver is a pro-life and pro-SecondAmendment candidate. She wants to create election reform, promote job and economic growth for citizens in Senate District 38 and reform education.

Spencer Deery currently serves as the deputy chief of staff and as a communications and public policy advisor to Purdue University President Mitch Daniels.

Prior to this election cycle, Deery has said he didnt have the ambition to run for politics, but that changed after the Senate District 23 seat opened.

Like the other candidates, Deery is campaigning on issues like prioritizing education by supporting teachers and focusing on parental rights, promoting job growth by supporting reform that prioritizes workforce development, aiming to reduce taxes, investing in the infrastructure of rural communities and is a pro-life and pro-second amendment candidate.

State Senate District 23covers all or parts of Vermillion, Parke, Fountain, Warren, Montgomery, and Tippecanoe counties.

Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on Twitterat1NoePadilla.

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State Senate District 23 a relatively crowded field in the GOP primary - Journal & Courier

The Newnan Times-Herald

Jared Craig, who is running against Rep. Drew Ferguson in the Republican primary for the District 3 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, was the only candidate present at a recent candidate forum in Newnan.

Jared Craig, who is running against Rep. Drew Ferguson in the Republican primary for the District 3 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, said at a recent candidate forum that his opponent is out of touch.

Craig presented his platform at the event, held April 14 in Newnan. The event was a chance for both Craig and Ferguson to make their case, but Ferguson was absent. According to Ferguson's team, he was at an event honoring and congratulating students that had earned appointments to the U.S. Service Academies.

As Ive been campaigning since July of last year, Ive gone around 15 counties and asked the voters, do you know who represents you? Craig said. And they either dont know him or theyre still waiting on a phone call back from him, which is telling as today, were still waiting for him to show up and participate in this debate, which he has chosen not to.

Craig, who called himself a conservative Republican and a believer in the America First agenda, said the biggest issue facing the county and the district was energy independence.

If we dont have energy independence, we can do nothing further to bring back critical manufacturing of essential goods, to where we can stop depending on international trade with countries that we consider to be our enemies, that we depend heavily for pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and even technology, Craig said. I want to bring that back to the United States. I want to bring that to Georgia.

Craig also said he was in favor of a merit-based immigration system, finishing up the wall on the southern border, and if Canada gets too wild, we should build a wall up there too, he said.

Craig also expressed support for the second amendment as well as interstate carry, stating that states should not have the right to infringe on your right that is acknowledged in the U.S. Constitution.

In addition, he spoke of endeavoring to insure voter integrity, to investigate what happened and to prevent what happened happening again in 2020, stating that voters were still angry and upset about what happened.

Craig also expressed support for single-issue bills - bills without earmarks or pork added to them, and called himself pro-life, pro-law and order, pro-military and a supporter of Veterans Administration rights. He also supports abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and said he wanted to protect womens sports for our daughters.

I believe that if we do not preserve our country and our way of life as we have it now, we will lose it if we do not act, Craig said.

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Jared Craig: Drew Ferguson 'out of touch' - Newnan Times-Herald

US Supreme Court could decide bans imposed by several states

A political and controversial fight over border security grows with the looming expiration of a federal pandemic policy.

Iowas Supreme Court weighs in on Abby Finkenauers ballot eligibility in her bid for the U. S. Senate.

And Illinois lawmakers take a stand against so-called ghost guns guns that are considered impossible to trace.

We cover that this morning with Jake Lewis, the deputy director of Illinois Democratic Party, and former Iowa Republican Party Chair Steve Grubbs.

We will start in Illinois with ghost guns. State lawmakers adopted legislation last weekend to ban them altogether. These are guns that can be made with a 3D printer and a special kit at home.

A lot of people buy them online. They dont have serial numbers. Thats what keeps them from being tracked.

The Illinois bill would ban selling any guns or kits that dont include serial numbers. It would make privately made firearms illegal and require anyone who owns parts without serial numbers to register them.

The federal government also weighed in on this.

President Biden announced a policy to require ghost gun businesses to have a federal license and to add serial numbers to the parts.

Republicans argued against the legislation saying it punishes law-abiding gun owners.

Ten other states already have legislation against ghost guns.

The bill is an important step forward in making sure that we can keep our communities safe by getting illegal guns and getting these ghost guns off of the street, Lewis said. These are untraceable guns.

Is this really going to stop the bad guys from printing their own guns? Grubbs asked. if they want to break the law, theyre probably going to do it with or without the approval of the government.

Hear what else our panelists have to say in the video.

Question of the week: Tell us what you think

We want to hear from you, too, with our question of the week: What do you think about legislation that bans ghost guns as they exist and requires them to contain serial numbers so they can be traced? Share your thoughts at 4therecord@whbf.com

Local 4 News, your local election headquarters, is proud to present4 The Record, a weekly news and public affairs program focused on the issues important to you. Its a program unlike any other here in the Quad Cities. Tune in each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. asJim Niedelmanbrings you up to speed on whats happening in the political arena, from Springfield, Des Moines, Washington, D.C. and right here at home.

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Drawing a line between ghost guns and the Second Amendment - WHBF - OurQuadCities.com

Thursday, Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Katie Britt continued her campaigns efforts to raise awareness of her policy positions by releasing a memo regarding her stance on the Second Amendment.

In speaking to what she saw as the importance of upholding law-abiding American citizens gun rights, Britt made mention of the nationwide spike in crime.

As crime skyrockets across the country thanks to dangerous liberal policies and anti-law enforcement rhetoric, it is more important than ever that law-abiding citizens exercise our Second Amendment rights, she declared in the memo.

Britt pledged to introduce legislation shielding firearm manufacturers and dealers from financial targeting, sponsor nationwide concealed carry reciprocity, and work to legislatively prohibit the implementation of red flag laws.

Gun grabbers use so-called red flag laws as a gateway to push their disarming agenda, the candidate stated. In reality, a red flag law is an abridgment of the Second Amendment and can be abused to take away the right to self-defense with no due process.

Additionally, she announced her intentions to end the $200 transfer tax on rare guns levied under the National Firearms Act.

Britt, whose private sector experience includes the practice of law, vowed to author an amicus brief in support of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Associations case against New Yorks Second Amendment restrictions.

According to Britt, the Second Amendment serves as a critical check against government tyranny.

The Second Amendment is a critical check against the timeless tyranny of government, stated Britt. Our Founders wisely knew that the Second Amendment will always be necessary to protect our God-given, inalienable right to defend ourselves, our families, our freedom, our homes, and our communities.

She concluded, As the Biden Administration continues to put law-abiding, hardworking Americans in their crosshairs, we must stand firm and preserve the country we know and love for our children and our childrens children. In the Senate, I will always fight to defend our Second Amendment rights and our Christian conservative values.

Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL

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Katie Britt: The Second Amendment is a 'critical check' against government tyranny - Yellowhammer News

EDGEWATER Home to just more than 5,000 people, this suburban Jefferson County town bordered by Denver to the east, Lakewood to the south and west, and Wheat Ridge to the north, is looking to limit Second Amendment rights like no city before in Colorado.

Although Denver has long banned open carry and recently announced its intent to look at banning concealed carry in public spaces including parks and city buildings, Edgewater has a laundry list of items targeting gun owners coming up for discussion that far exceeds anything seen to date.

On April 5th, the city council heard a presentation on gun violence prevention from Colorado Ceasefire, an anti-gun rights organization, and subsequently decided to move forward with a more detailed discussion on possible municipal ordinances. Such local gun rights restrictions would be allowed under Senate Bill 21- 256, passed during last years legislative session and signed into law by Governor Polis, which unwound decades of state preemption and allows local governments to manage their own gun laws, but only so long as they are more restrictive than those at the state level, a condition that has been referred to as a bastardization of the concept of local control.

According to an Edgewater City Council agenda for the April 19th meeting, the following will be considered for passage:

The presentation will include comments from Tom Mauser, father of a Columbine High School shooting victim and current board member of Colorado Ceasefire, which was started after the Columbine shooting and Ellen McCarron, Colorado Ceasefire Legislative Action board president.

Among justifications in the presentation are claims that the majority of Americans support reasonable gun restrictions and that there are no easy solutions, but that doing nothing will not solve the problem.

But according to David Kopel, research director at the Denver-based Independence Institute* and professor of advanced constitutional law at the University of Denver, concealed carry permit holderswho are heavily targeted in the potential Edgewater ordinancesare exceptionally law-abiding.

According to FBI data in the annually published Crime in the United States, about 5 percent of the Colorado adult population is arrested each year, says Kopel. In contrast, the figure for concealed handgun permit holders is only 1/10th of 1 percent. Permit holders are vastly more law-abiding than the general population.

Kopel continues that obtaining a concealed carry permit requires hundreds of dollars in fees and expenses for the required training, as well as long waits for appointments for a fingerprint-based background check. The only people who bother are those who are so concerned about legal compliance that they spend significant resources just to obtain a card from the government allowing them to legally do what they could done anyway for free, and with very low risk of being caught, continued Kopel. Its no wonder that Colorados concealed carry permitees are 50 times more law-abiding than the general population.

Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams, who is a vocal, statewide advocate for Second Amendment rights said the restrictions Edgewater is considering are neither reasonable nor will they solve any problem. Reams has continually spoke out against SB21-256 calling it a trampling on the Constitution.

Gun restrictions have not fixed the problem, Reams said. It was a huge overreach by the state. Restrictions on the Constitution are never taken lightly (by Democrats) until it comes to the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment is different than any other freedom for them.

According to Colorado Ceasefire, concealed carry permits are up the past three years in Colorado from 257,166 in 2019 to 297,003 in 2021.

Reams said from a law enforcement perspective, he doesnt see how such patchwork laws could be enforced, adding keeping up with state laws are complicated enough already without adding another layer.

I cant imagine how you would even go about it, Reams said, questioning whether current owners of banned guns would be grandfathered in. How do you prove you did not already own it? If Im driving through town going from point A to point B, and I get pulled over for a speeding ticket, am I going to lose my guns?

Reams said municipal laws are normally specific to property issues, not gun rights.

They are setting themselves up for a huge court battle, Reams said. I guess were finally about to see if the legislation is constitutional, but it will come at the expense of Edgewater residents.

The item will be discussed Tuesday during the city council regular business meeting. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at 1800 Harlan St., Edgewater.

*Independence Institute is the publisher of Complete Colorado.

Our unofficial motto at Complete Colorado is Always free, never fake, but annoyingly enough, our reporters, columnists and staff all want to be paid in actual US dollars rather than our preferred currency of pats on the back and a muttered kind word. Fact is that theres an entire staff working every day to bring you the most timely and relevant political news (updated twice daily) from around the state on Completes main page aggregator, as well as top-notch original reporting and commentary on Page Two.

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City of Edgewater to consider sweeping gun rights restrictions; concealed carry among targets - Complete Colorado