South Bend leaders talk about whether the city needs to regulate air guns

SOUTH BEND, Ind.– The South Bend Common Council Health and Public Safety Committee held a meeting Thursday night to discuss the possibility of regulating different types of air guns.

City leaders and police officers are discussing why South Bend would need an ordinance for non-firearms. According to the meeting notice, members focused on BB, pellet, and other air guns.

Chief of the South Bend Police, Scott Ruszkowski, was present at the meeting and helped attendees understand the dangers of air guns.

“Some of these pellet guns have the capacity to be even more devastating than a 22 would,” said Ruszkowski at Thursday's meeting. “So those are things that I think the council would, I would recommend, take into serious consideration.”

While Ruszkowski said how dangerous these weapons can be, it still leaves questions for council members like Sheila Niezgodski, the 6th District councilwoman.

“Are we going to tell parents that they can’t get their child a BB gun or that they can’t get an archery set in their backyard? I mean, how invasive. I guess, I don’t want to take any of those decisions that parents make if that is maybe a family sport,” said Niezgodski.

At the end of Thursday's meeting, Committee Chair Rachel Tomas Morgan said the committee needed to come back to this discussion to decide what is truly driving this conversation.

We will keep you updated as the discussion continues.