A Brief Reminder

[Sandhiller]

This is Article 1, Section 1 of the Nebraska State Constitution...

Statement of rights.
All persons are by nature free and independent, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights; among these are life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the right to keep and bear arms for security or defense of self, family, home, and others, and for lawful common defense, hunting, recreational use, and all other lawful purposes, and such rights shall not be denied or infringed by the state or any subdivision thereof. To secure these rights, and the protection of property, governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Now ain't that inneresting? I wonder what part of "shall not be denied or infringed" Lincoln doesn't understand. Or even of the dozen or so municipalities that have anti-carry laws.

[Sandhiller]

This is form my state senator today re LB-958...

We ended the day on LB 958. Many of you have emailed me about the overreaching and heavy handed restrictions on gun owners rights of LB 958 as introduced by Sen. Ashford. I opposed LB 958 as introduced and in the amended form that the bill came out of committee. It is unusual for a bill to have so many different forms as this one has.

Yesterday afternoon a compromise was reached between Sen. Ashford and others who support gun rights including the NRA (National Rifle Association). One of the hardest parts of this situation is that few people including members of the Legislature were aware of this compromise until yesterday. But when the bill came up for debate today, that new amendment was debated. The amendment would eliminate all of the assault weapons issues and many other overreaching restrictions that were previously in the bill.

As you can imagine with a bill like this that was so horrible for gun owners in the state, any amendments to the bill without good advance notice to the public makes people confused and wondering what the Legislature is doing. There wasn't enough time to inform people following this bill about the new amendment and many are probably confused about why the bill would pass. But now that we have had at least one round of debate let me give you an overview of what the compromise amendment (AM 2235) included:

1. A study by the Crime Commission on the use of guns in crimes committed in Nebraska and a requirement that the Commission recommend administrative, enforcement or statutory changes in law relating to guns.

2. It would create a hotline for people to report their guns as lost or stolen to the State Patrol.
3. It would repeal an outdated and contrary requirement that purchasers of guns in Nebraska have to apply for a purchase permit in addition to the federal instacheck requirements. This provision is cumbersome for gun owners and will be a blessing to gun owners to not have this additional hurdle.

4. It would allow for a person's mental health reports to be held for 10 years and available for inspection instead of the existing 5 year requirement in law. Which I believe is consistent with new federal laws.

I was not part of any of those negotiations. When I read the amendment I realized an amendment needed to be offered to the first item to strike the requirement that the Crime Commission recommend statute or other policy changes. They can have a study done if they want to, but it should be the Legislature who decides what laws could be changed not a commission somewhere. You can very easily argue that you don't need to put this in law as they could do this already. So now the bill only requires the study, that a hotline for lost or stolen guns be created, that the burdensome purchase permit is repealed, and the mental health records are available for 5 more years.

I fully recognize that this bill is a victim of heavy lobbying - and rightfully so of which I agreed with overwhelmingly as introduced or as amended by the committee amendment. However now the bill is in a completely different form and the main provision - if not the only provision - is that it eliminates a requirement that is a burden to gun owners in Nebraska. Oh yeah and gives you a toll free number to let the State Patrol know someone stole your gun.

I assure you that if I or others in the Legislature who support your 2nd amendment rights felt this bill with these amendments would infringe on your rights as gun owners, I would oppose it vehemently. The bill did advance to Select file and I would encourage you to read the bill for yourself and let me know your thoughts. I think it is a fair proposal as the only real thing the bill does now is repeal an burden for gun owners. You can read the bill and the amendments at:

Amendment 2235 (Ashford): http://uniweb.legislature.ne.gov/FloorDocs/Current/PDF/AM/AM2235.pdf
Floor Amendment 205 (Erdman): http://uniweb.legislature.ne.gov/FloorDocs/Current/PDF/AM/FA205.pdf