South Bend and St. Joseph County law enforcement officials spoke out Friday against a piece of legislation that would eliminate the need for a permit to carry a handgun in public.

Hoosiers will no longer have to get a permit to carry a handgun in public under a bill headed to the governor’s desk.

A Senate committee took eight hours of testimony on so-called “permitless carry” legislation, HB 1077, last week. And at the end of it, the committee voted to overhaul the bill, keeping the permit system in place.

A top Indiana legislator says a proposal to repeal the state’s handgun permit requirement might win approval despite ongoing opposition from major law enforcement organizations and the state police superintendent.

The Senate did not give the handgun license elimination bill a hearing before Thursday's deadline to do so.

Republicans easily pushed the proposal through the Indiana House, but Senate leaders have decided against taking up the bill in the final weeks of this year's legislative session.

Bill author Rep. Ben Smaltz (R-Auburn) said the license is nothing more than an unnecessary hurdle for people who are constitutionally allowed to carry a handgun.

Indiana law enforcement groups are on both sides of a debate over legislation that would no longer require Hoosiers to get a handgun license.

Sen. David Long stresses he's only speaking for himself - not the Senate Republican caucus.

Rep. Jim Lucas voted against the measure because he wants the bill's original language, which would have eliminated the need for handgun licenses entirely.