Ordinance would make random gunfire in Louisville illegal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A group of Louisville Metro Council members are trying to cut down on the amount of random gunshots throughout the city by outlawing it.

The ordinance would make shooting a gun randomly a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail. Prior to the city-county merger in 2003, the city of Louisville had a similar ordinance in place.

According to the ordinance, MetroSafe received 5,756 calls about shots fired in 2021. And Louisville Metro Police said, in many cases, they have no method of punishing people responsible for the random shots.

"These bullets come down," LMPD Lt. Col. Josh Judah said. "There is a property cost, there is a human cost and there's that collective trauma way too many of our neighborhoods have, where you wake up and go to bed at the sound of deadly weapons being fired."

Kentucky prevents local municipalities from creating restrictive measures related to guns, but sponsor Pat Mulvihill (D-9) believes the ordinance is on "solid legal footing."

"This is the only option that we came to," Mulvihill said. "You have to have support. That's needed. So once that was done, or once I talked to LMPD, that happened."

Exceptions to the ordinance would be made under the following circumstances:

When defending persons or property
By peace officers, military personnel, or similar officers in the execution of their official duties and during training
Within a properly zoned and constructed indoor firing range
When legally hunting on at least five contiguous acres of open land
When engaged in target shooting, skeet shooting or sport shooting.

"That's not what we see every day," Judah said. "We see people pulling a gun out in the middle of a sidewalk."

Earlier this month, Councilwoman Nicole George (D-21), also a sponsor of the ordinance, raised concerns that she heard from numerous constituents about "celebratory gunfire"

In spite of well-documented staffing shortages, LMPD said the passage of the ordinance would allow for officers to address the issue, whereas right now, their hands are tied.

"This is what we want our officers engaged in, stopping people engaged in this unsafe behavior," Judah said.

In summer 2017, Louisville began using ShotSpotter, a system that detects audible gunshots and automatically reports them to MetroSafe. The gunshot detection system uses a series of microphone sensors scattered around the city to find the location of gunfire. The program received funding to expand in 2022.

Similar ordinances that outlaw gunfire in city limits are in place in Lexington and Bowling Green, but sponsors are aware that the measure could be challenged in court.