Before Sept. 2, a citizen had to pass a criminal background check, pay a $100 fee to the government and take an eight- to 16-hour gun safety class to exercise the right to concealed carry. But no more.
Legislative Bill 77 did away with these requirements, meaning that Nebraskans 21 and older will be allowed to concealed carry without a permit. Gov. Jim Pillen signed the bill into law in April, declaring that it will “protect our constitutional rights.”
This law superseded city laws through Nebraska’s preemption statutes. These invalidate local ordinances which run afoul of the state’s.
Some cities, however, are not taking kindly to having local control nullified. Specifically, Omaha and Lincoln are erecting legal roadblocks to constitutional carry.
Last Thursday Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert signed an executive order immediately prohibiting constitutional carry on all property owned or leased by the city. The next day, Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird followed suit with a virtually identical order.
Lincoln officials acknowledged the new state law blocks the city from “regulating the ownership, possession, storage, transportation, sale or transfer of firearms and other weapons except as expressly provided by state law.”
The National Rifle Association took the cities to task for attempting to circumvent state statutes designed to allow law-abiding citizens the freedom to carry for self-defense without a permit. As the gun rights organization correctly noted, “gun-free” zones only work through compliance by those who obey the law.
This in turn leaves the area wide open to those who do not care in the slightest about what the law allows.
The NRA also called the Lincoln executive order “a clear assault on all law-abiding citizens who wish to exercise their Second Amendment right.” Intentionally or not, both cities are courting a legal response.
