Kentucky lawmakers to introduce gun safety legislation

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WAVE) - Some Kentucky legislators met in Frankfort Thursday to introduce plans for safety legislation they've been working on together since last year. The announcement comes on the heels of the recent mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.

Republicans Julie Raque Adams and Paul Hornback appeared alongside Democrat Morgan McGarvey.

Proposed legislation would included protection orders that could keep guns away from people that a judge deemed unfit to have them.

A police department, a family, or perhaps others, could petition a court to determine if someone close to them was a harm to themselves or others, and make them go before a judge.

"Being a rural legislator, and a big proponent of second amendment rights and those types of things, this is not about taking guns," said Hornback, of Shelbyville, "This is about protection of people, because it's a strange new world we live in."

Hornback said there has also been talks of implementing penalties for false accusations made in those situations.

The three legislators say they've been working on this since a constituent was shot at the Fifth Third Bank building in downtown Cincinnati last year.

Seventeen states have instituted similar laws, and these Kentucky lawmakers said Thursday that even suicide numbers have decreased.

"If this prevents one person from committing suicide, if this prevents one person from going into public and causing a mass shooting, and it doesn't trample on people's rights, isn't it worth doing?" asked McGarvey. "We think it is."

A representative from LMPD was also in Frankfort for the press conference to show their support for the legislators’ efforts.

Copyright 2019 WAVE 3 News. All rights reserved.