An Indiana state lawmaker flashed his holstered gun at high schoolers visiting the Statehouse to advocate for gun reform, leaving some of the teenagers feeling unsafe and “threatened,” according to a video of the interaction.
Republican Rep. Jim Lucas was debating on the topic of firearm legislation with students from the Burris Laboratory School when he opened his coat to reveal the gun on his waist to the youngsters, Franklin College’s student publication The Statehouse File first reported.
“I’m carrying [a gun] right now,” Lucas tells the group of students as he opens his coat to reveal a firearm holstered at his waist, according to the clip obtained by the outlet.
“See, nothing about that makes me feel safe though,” one of the students responds. “Nothing about someone carrying a gun makes me feel safe. It makes me feel threatened.”
“Those are feelings. I’m talking facts,” Lucas — who was arrested for drunk driving and leaving the scene of a crash in May — tells the teenagers.
“People that want to kill you don’t care about your feelings,” he adds.
The high schoolers are members of Students Demand Action — a national group of young activists committed to ending gun violence in the US — and were visiting the Statehouse in Indianapolis on Tuesday for the annual Advocacy Day to demand lawmakers do more to protect them from guns and school shootings.
There have been 55 school shootings in Indiana since 1966, according to the K-12 school shooting database compiled by researcher David Riedman. In just the first month of 2024, 14 school shootings have happened across the US with 17 victims, the database states.
The students told the Statehouse File the interaction with the state lawmaker left them feeling uneasy.
“My heart sank to my stomach,” said 17-year-old Makynna Fivecoats, who filmed the video of their conversation. “I genuinely felt very unsafe in that moment. And I really just wanted the conversation to kind of end after that.”
Lawmakers and their staffers are permitted to carry in the Statehouse building, but the students were still disturbed by Lucas flashing the firearm.
“It kind of, almost, felt like a threat to me,” Fivecoats told the publication. “I want to say that’s not how he meant it, but when you show someone that you have a gun on you, there’s no way really other to mean [anything] besides a threat.”
Lucas, however, dismissed the suggestion that he was threatening the teenage girls — telling the Statehouse File that he was “simply showing an inanimate object” referring to the deadly weapon.
“People that want to have adult conversations, I think, need to be able to handle adult situations,” he said referring to the students.
The Republican later took to Facebook to repeat his argument for guns as self-defense.
“I fear for, and pity those that are being indoctrinated to fear that which is their best means of self defense,” Lucas wrote alongside a link to the article. “People are also being indoctrinated to depend on government for their ‘safety,’ even when shown that government has clearly ruled that government doesn’t have the duty to protect us.”
His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Post.
The state representative’s action was met with swift backlash from Democrats and those rallying for safer schools.
“Indiana Republicans seemingly have enough time to belittle and intimidate high school students in between passing laws defunding the police, expanding child labor, and helping the gun lobby get off in court,” said Indiana Democratic Party Chair Mike Schmuhl, according to Fox59. “This supermajority puts the interests of the gun lobby over those of our local governments, and even the safety of Hoosier students. It’s wrong, and it’s time to check their power at the ballot box in November.
Lucas had a similar interaction with constituents in 2020 when he answered a 12-year-old’s question about guns in schools by telling the crowd, “I’m carrying right now. Does that scare anybody?” the Republic reported at the time.
It apparently scared about one-third — around 20 people — of those in the room who either answered yes or raised their hands in the affirmative, according to the outlet.