Rep. Jim Lucas Claims Matter Is “Blown out of proportion”
by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz
Indiana Capital Chronicle
Young gun safety advocates clashed with an avowed gun-rights lawmaker on Tuesday, Jan. 30, in a 10-minute exchange that featured a brief flash of a holstered handgun.
The students and a chaperone told the The Statehouse File they felt threatened after Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, opened his coat and flashed his handgun. Lucas represents portions of Jackson, Scott and Washington Counties.
Lucas, however, denied any intent to intimidate the students in comments to the Capital Chronicle on Wednesday.
He observed that about 20% of Hoosiers are licensed to carry, according to Indiana State Police, although a 2022 law removed the requirement for handguns.
“People that are carrying a gun are among us every day, everywhere, and I simply wanted to show them that I was one of those people,” he said. “There was no intimidation whatsoever… I did not put my hand on my firearm. I did not make any threats.”
Lawmakers and their staff are allowed to carry in the Statehouse though citizens are not.
The high school students, from Burris Laboratory School in Muncie, were visiting the Statehouse for an annual gun safety rally. They are members of Students Demand Action, one of the organizations hosting the event.
In a video a student recorded— which begins part-way through the interaction— Lucas said that, under high court decisions, police do not have a duty to protect a person from harm. That includes during school shootings.
“That means you’re on your own… when it comes to protecting (yourself),” he said.
Students noted that they can’t legally carry firearms because they are minors.
They went on to describe the fear of school shootings, including of false shooting threats.
“We shouldn’t have to live in fear,” argued parent chaperone Alison Case.
Lucas protested that more laws wouldn’t stop “people who aren’t being stopped by the hundreds of existing laws right now.”
About two minutes later into the conversation, he opened his jacket to reveal a handgun strapped to his torso, adding, “I’m carrying right now!”
“Nothing about that makes me feel safe, though,” one student responded.
The back-and-forth continued for about four minutes until Lucas grew visibly frustrated— calling the conversation “off the rails”— and walked away, wishing the group a good day.
One of the students, Makynna Fivecoats, told The Statehouse File that the handgun flash “felt like a threat.”
Lucas told the Capital Chronicle that he was in the elevator alone when the group entered and that he started the conversation— by asking what brought them to the Statehouse— out of politeness.
“This is being intentionally blown out of proportion, as these issues generally are,” he said. “But the video should speak for itself.”
Lucas said that he hadn’t known he was being recorded, but added, “I stand by everything I said.”
On Thursday, Indiana House Speaker Todd Huston expressed his disapproval of state Rep. Jim Lucas’ behavior earlier in the week, when he flashed his holstered gun to a group of high school students visiting the Statehouse.
“He just, simply put, should have never opened his jacket,” Huston stated.