With the Indiana General Assembly (IGA) starting it’s 2026 session soon (or it started in December and is reconvening in January? One needs a decoder ring for the 2026 IGA session. One thing that is clear, things will be moving very fast.) it seems like a good time to take a look at what the statistics say concerning Constitutional Carry of handguns. This became the law of the land here in Indiana on 1 July 2022. I personally think it would’ve passed in 2021, but that’s a subject for another article.
2021 is where to start when looking at the numbers, since a recent local news article Non-murders Homicides Up In Indiana quoted The Wall Street Journal stating “Indianapolis was #3 in the nation with 10% justifiable homicides from 2021-2024.” The local news story looked at the number of non-murder homicides (includes a significant number of justified self-defense homicides by Police and private citizens as well as accidental deaths) that recognized the numbers, but completely missed the mark on what has happened since Constitutional Carry became law.
2020-2021 were not great years for our Country, pandemic and riots. Homicides saw a marked increase in those years not only throughout the country, but in Indiana as well. Since then, homicide numbers have decreased every year. I live in Hendricks County, just west of Indianapolis/Marion County. I’ve worked in Indianapolis for over 18 years. I mention this since Marion County’s homicide stats are used throughout the article. Statistically, Marion County drives the overall homicide rate in Indiana.
2021 marked a record number of homicides in Marion County. In that year Marion County had 14% of Indiana’s population, and 64% of the State’s homicides. Marion County had 281 homicides in 2021 according to the FBI data.Only 22 (8%) were non-murder homicides.
2022 saw a decrease to 226 homicides in Marion County, the year Constitutional Carry became law in July. Only 15 were non-murder homicides.
2023 was the first full calendar year with Constitutional Carry in Indiana. The change in the percentage of non-murder homicides in Marion County was significant to say the least. 44 of the 216 homicides (20%) were non-murder.
2024 and (so far) in 2025 the trend of increased non-murder (and justified self-defense) homicides has continued. 39 of 211 (18%) in 2024 and 27 of 152 (18% with about a month to go) in 2025.
I’ve been a Management Analyst (a Statistician with people-skills) for 26 years. The Wall Street Journal did the math right, but they didn’t go further into the numbers. 2021-2022 Indianapolis saw an average of 8% justifiable homicides. 2023-late 2025 averaged 19%, and that is a significant increase.
As well-known 2nd Amendment writer Dean Weingarten stated back in August when writing on the subject of justifiable homicides in Indianapolis, “The people being killed are more criminal predators and fewer innocent victims.” https://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2025/08/justified-homicides-in-indianapolis.html
Along with Constitutional Carry, the Civil Immunity Statute which went into law in 2019 (and signed by then-Governor Holcomb at the NRA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis) comes into play here as well.
Self-defense is an essential right. In 2019 Indiana’s Civil Immunity statute became law. Put simply, civil immunity states that if lethal force was justified (legal under Indiana Code) a civil suit can proceed, but if unsuccessful the side who brought the case will pay the others attorney’s fees. Prior to the Civil Immunity statute becoming law there was a significant number of civil lawsuits filed against individuals who lawfully used lethal force according to Indiana Code. This is significant because the cottage industry of suing law-abiding individuals who used lawful lethal force has pretty much ended in Indiana. If insurance was involved it was often cheaper for the insurance company to settle the case vice fighting in court. A highly publicized case (local prosecutor and Police called the individual heroic for saving the life of a Police Officer in southeastern Indiana, the heroic individual was then sued in civil court) was dropped even before the bill became law.
There are a large number of bills introduced in the IGA every year. Very few survive to have a committee hearing and a chance to move on in the legislative process. Both Constitutional Carry of Handguns and Civil Immunity started as bills assigned to committees. In 2019 and in 2022, 2nd Amendment supporters stepped up when needed. Phone calls, emails, and letters to our elected officials let them know we are out here, and paying attention.
Very soon the bill list for the 2026 IGA session will be up on the ISRPA website. Things are going to move fast with the projected end of the session (known as “sine die”, I’m pretty sure that’s Latin for “We are done here”) is 27 February, two weeks earlier than usual. When you see a legislative alert from the ISRPA, or the NRA, or The 2A Project, or the National Shooting Sports Foundation, don’t hesitate. Give it a read, and take action.
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