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Throwing stars legalized for all Hoosiers under change to bill in House committee

Throwing stars would be legal for Hoosiers to own and carry under legislation headed to the House floor.

The bill, SB 77, was significantly expanded in committee.

Throwing stars have been illegal in Indiana since the mid-1980s. Legislation approved by the Senate this year legalized them only for certain businesses – the ax-throwing venues that have become popular wanted to offer throwing stars.

But a House committee went much further, proposing full legalization.

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Joel Wieneke, Indiana Public Defender Council senior staff attorney, said that’s a better solution.

“We would think that it would just be an easier practice to delete the prohibition for throwing stars,” Wieneke said.

The bill now classifies throwing stars as knife weapons – meaning they’d be banned from schools and school buses.

Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.

Copyright 2023 IPB News. To see more, visit .

Brandon Smith is excited to be working for public radio in Indiana. He has previously worked in public radio as a reporter and anchor in mid-Missouri for KBIA Radio out of Columbia. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, Illinois as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, Missouri, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.