FRANKFORT, Ky. — Families affected by the mass shooting at Old National Bank in downtown Louisville made their presence known in Frankfort on Friday, pushing for legislation they believe could prevent future tragedies like the one that took their loved ones.
Maryanne Elliott, the widow of Tommy Elliott, joined other gun safety advocates to advocate for the CARR (Crisis Aversion and Rights Retention) bill, a type of 'Red Flag' law that would remove guns from the hands of those in crises and deemed a danger.
Wearing green scarves for mental health awareness, Elliott and others impacted by gun violence arrived more than an hour early for the Interim Joint Judiciary Committee meeting -- where Kentucky lawmakers heard testimony in support of CARR and feedback from those opposed to it.
Also in the packed room -- Jim Tutt's widow, Karen, and son, Andrew, alongside Joshua Barrick's brother, Jeff, who was watching the discussion closely.
In a statement, Elliott said the hearing was a "major step" for Kentucky and called the CARR bill "an option our legislators must explore with empathy."
"I don't want any person to be forced to endure the pain of losing someone they love to gun violence. I miss Tommy every minute of every day," she said. "The CARR approach is proven to reduce suicides and mass shootings while still preserving individual rights."
The CARR bill would allow Kentucky's law enforcement agencies to temporarily remove guns from people deemed by a judge to be mentally unstable, and potentially a threat.
"We've seen, even in the most recent shootings, cases where people knew the shooter was struggling with this," Republican State Senator Whitney Westerfield, the bill's sponsor, said.
Whitney Austin, a mass shooting survivor herself, told lawmakers that the Old National Bank gunman was mentally ill, but still able to legally purchase the rifle used in the shooting.
"CARR is the solution to this problem. It protects innocent life by preventing crisis moments with guns," Austin said, adding this is also about preventing suicides. "It is a helping tool. It is designed to get gun owners back to a place in which gun ownership is safe."
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Westerfield said his two drafts of the bill are more narrowly tailored than the average Red Flag law, allowing gun owners the opportunity for a hearing before a judge to explain why they should be able to keep their weapon.
During the hearing, Westerfield was met with support from Jeffersontown Police Chief Rick Sanders.
"There are some people who have shown that they're suffering," Sanders said. "And we need to take the firearm away from them before they can hurt themselves or others."
While those in support of CARR said the bill is focused on mental health, opponents argued any sort of gun control violates the Constitution.
"We are told that we must do something, yes, we must do something. We must fervently resist any effort to pass gun control legislation," GOP State Rep. Savannah Maddox said. "You're still talking about a proposal that at a bare minimum has the potential to violate at least three constitutional rights."
When asked if the presence of families and their testimony would make some lawmakers have a change of heart, Westerfield said he believes it would.
"There's a lot of opposition to this and again, I don't think it'll ever be unanimous," he said. "[But if we] work on it one vote at a time, one legislator at a time, I think there's more support for it than you're hearing."
Westerfield admitted to WHAS11 that there may not be enough support to pass the bill into law in 2024, but he said he and the families impacted will continue to push the bill forward.
"We're a long way from passage, but you just keep moving forward," he said.
The committee hearing's purpose was largely to get feedback from other state lawmakers, providing a sense of where changes would need to be made to garner more approval and a higher chance of success when the legislative session gets underway Jan. 2.
The CARR bill is expected to be filed in January 2024.
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