In Kentucky, several gun law proposals failed in 2024

KENTUCKY (WAVE) – About 30 minutes before five people were shot on I-75, Laurel County dispatch received an alert that the suspect, Joseph Couch, may have intended to kill many people.

During a press conference on Monday, officials also revealed that Couch had legally purchased an AR-15 from a local store on the same day of the shooting.

Because there is no waiting period to purchase a firearm in Kentucky, you can walk into the store, pick one out, and walk out with it, provided you pass all the inspections.

Kentucky House Bill 696 would have imposed a five-day waiting period between the sale and transfer of a firearm, but never made it out of committee last session.

“There is no reason why you should be able to buy an AR-15, walk out of the store and do what happened on the same day,” said Morgan McGarvey, a Democrat from Kentucky and a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

McGarvey has been a champion for stricter gun laws in the Kentucky state legislature for years. He believes that, in addition to a federal assault ban, common-sense laws like background checks and a ban on bump stocks would make people safer.

“These are things that we can start doing and that I think there is widespread agreement on,” he said. “Let’s get going and act before someone else experiences this kind of pain.”

There is no broad consensus in the Kentucky General Assembly.

Since the Old National Bank massacre, additional bills have been introduced in Kentucky that would require background checks for private sellers and ban assault weapons.

These bills also never left the committee.

“I’m tired of hearing people say, ‘There’s nothing we can do,’ when we don’t do anything,” McGarvey said.

McGarvey points to the Crisis Aversion and Rights Retention Act, which would have allowed anyone to contact the police if they considered someone they knew to be a threat to themselves or others.

Law enforcement could then file a petition with a judge, who would then decide whether there is enough evidence to temporarily take away the defendants’ weapons.

This is another bill on the subject of firearms that remained in committee.

“Right now, we see a majority in the state legislature that refuses to implement sensible gun reform,” McGarvey said.

WAVE News has reached out to the Kentucky House and Senate Republican caucuses for comment on this story but has not received a response.

In Kentucky, a federal ban on assault weapons would violate state law. In 2023, the Republican two-thirds majority, without Governor Beshear, passed a bill prohibiting the enforcement of any federal ban or regulation of firearms.

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