Justified Homicides in Indianapolis
Double after Constitutional Carry

After Constitutional Carry went into effect in Indiana, the number of non-criminal homicides in Indianapolis doubled.

Indiana had been a "shall issue" state since at least 1983. In 2022, Indiana became a Constitutional Carry state, with the law going into effect on July 1, 2022. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) has been keeping records of homicides in the city for a number of years. They differentiate between criminal homicides and non-criminal homicides. IMPD has made the numbers available to the media. Non-criminal homicides include defense of self and others, homicides by police and fatal firearms accidents. Fatal firearm accidents are a tiny percentage of all fatalities associated with firearms. A proportion of them are self inflicted, and can be confused with suicides.

In 2021, there were 271 homicides in Indianapolis. 249 were recorded as criminal. 22 of them were non-criminal. Half of 2022 passed before the Constitutional Carry law went into effect on July 1. Half of 2022 was under the new law. In 2022 there were 226 total homicides. 211 of them were criminal. 15 of them were non-criminal. In 2023, the first year the law was fully in effect, there were 216 total homicides. 171 were criminal. 45 of them were non-criminal. …