Walter Paul Helmke, Jr. (born 1948) is an American politician, and the former president of the Washington, DC–based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

He attended Indiana University Bloomington, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and president of the student government in 1969–70,[5] and of the Yale Law School.

In 2002, Helmke unsuccessfully challenged incumbent U.S. Representative Mark Souder in the Republican primary for the Third Congressional District in Indiana.

Walter E. Helmke was also one of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor of Indiana in 1948 but was defeated at his party's state convention.

Walter E. Helmke also has the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne main research facility building named after him.

[10][11] In January 2013, he started at the Indiana University School of Public & Environmental Affairs, and is currently the director of the Civic Leaders Living-Learning Center which began in August 2013.