{"id":79961,"date":"2022-04-12T10:51:44","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T15:51:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=79961"},"modified":"2022-04-12T10:51:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T15:51:44","slug":"79961","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=79961","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Nebraska concealed carry handgun bill comes short of votes <\/a><\/p>\n

LINCOLN \u2014 In a surprise, state lawmakers failed to muster enough votes Monday to advance a concealed carry handgun bill, called \u201cconstitutional carry\u201d by some.<\/p>\n

The vote to invoke cloture was 31-9, two short of what\u2019s needed to stop a filibuster and advance a bill. It was also four fewer senators than the number who supported advancement of the bill from first-round debate.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTo say that I\u2019m disappointed is an understatement,\u201d said State Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, who has made passing the bill a priority during his six years in office.<\/p>\n

25 other states<\/h2>\n

At least 25 other states have passed such laws. In Nebraska, it would have allowed people to carry a concealed weapon without obtaining a $100 state permit, undergoing a criminal background check and passing a gun safety class.<\/p>\n

Brewer had worked for several weeks to negotiate a compromise to Legislative Bill 773 with the Omaha police union and police department, which had expressed concern about the bill watering down existing gun control ordinances in the state\u2019s largest city and complicating their job of reducing gun violence.<\/p>\n

The compromise amendment would have left in place an Omaha ordinance that requires registration of handguns. It also would have allowed\u00a0for the continued prosecution of the crime of \u201ccarrying a concealed handgun\u201d if a concealed gun was used in a long list of \u201ccovered offenses,\u201d from robbery and kidnapping, to cockfighting and disorderly conduct.<\/p>\n

NRA urged \u2018no\u2019 vote<\/h2>\n

But the powerful National Rifle Association urged a \u201cno\u201d vote against the amendment, calling it \u201ca discriminatory attempt to place Omaha\u2019s extreme firearm registration requirement into state law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senators failed to pass the compromise amendment on a 13-29 vote \u2014 12 fewer \u201cyes\u201d votes than needed.<\/p>\n

The defeat pushed the Omaha Police Officers Association from neutral on the bill to oppose and sparked a debate over whether voting for LB 773 was a vote against law enforcement.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tony Conner, president of the OPOA, said the amendment was fair.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere has to be some common sense regulation,\u201d Conner said.<\/p>\n

Lincoln Sen. Adam Morfeld led the opposition to the bill, saying that the 2nd Amendment is not an unlimited right and that requiring a state permit and passing a safety course were not unreasonable. He pointed out that the Lincoln police had always been opposed to LB 773.<\/p>\n

\"State
State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha (Courtesy of Unicameral Information Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He joined Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt in arguing that most Nebraskans support reasonable gun laws.<\/p>\n

Hunt said she supports a society that doesn\u2019t need to carry a gun \u201call the time to defend ourselves.\u201d In states that allow permitless carry, suicide rates and rates of domestic violence have risen, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re talking about a bill that makes it easier for violent people to attack the people they\u2019re targeting,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n

Brewer pushed back, saying LB 773 wouldn\u2019t require everyone to carry a concealed handgun but would allow people to exercise their constitutional rights without getting a costly permit and taking a time-consuming test.<\/p>\n

Discounts law enforcement opposition<\/h2>\n

He grew angry after his amendment failed to pass, saying that the \u201csky hasn\u2019t fallen\u201d in the other 25 states that have adopted such laws. He also asked colleagues to \u201cnot put a lot of value\u201d in the opposition from the Lincoln and Omaha police.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a perfect world, no one has a gun,\u201d Brewer said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not what the Constitution has given us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senator, a decorated military veteran who still competes in sniper competitions, decried that the rules of the Legislature required two-thirds of the 49 senators to override a filibuster.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re seeing why the rules of this Legislature are broken and a small group of people can kill anything that\u2019s good,\u201d Brewer said.<\/p>\n

Five supporters changed<\/h2>\n

In the end, five senators who voted \u201cyes\u201d to advance LB 733 from first-round debate voted \u201cno\u201d or \u201cpresent and not voting\u201d Monday on cloture. They were Sens. Carol Blood, Jen Day, Suzanne Geist, Robert Hilkemann and Mike McDonnell.<\/p>\n

In addition, one senator voting \u201cyes\u201d on first-round, Omaha Sen. Rich Pahls, has been absent due to a medical issue and didn\u2019t vote Monday.<\/p>\n

Hilkemann told his colleagues that after talking to a couple of constituents, including one who was a law enforcement officer, he didn\u2019t feel LB 733 was a good idea. Day said 69% of the emails to her office were against the bill.<\/p>\n

\"State
State Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln. (Courtesy of Unicameral Information Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Geist, a conservative Republican and a concealed carry permit holder, said she loves guns and loves to target shoot but has also worked with both the Lincoln and Omaha police on legislation.<\/p>\n

A \u2018huge responsibility\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge responsibility,\u201d Geist said, to carry a concealed weapon. However, she added, she would have given the bill the 33rd vote to invoke cloture, if it had gotten 32 votes instead of 31.<\/p>\n

Brewer said later Monday that he had called every gun rights group in the nation so they can target those who voted against him for defeat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to call out everyone who didn\u2019t vote for the 2nd Amendment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Brewer said he also regretted dissuading gun rights advocates from packing hearing rooms and hallways earlier this year as they did in 2020, when at least two men showed up openly carrying military-style rifles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t make that mistake again,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re coming back. And it will be a different story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunt also responded later Monday night, saying the \u201crevenge mindset \u2026 validates why this bill shouldn\u2019t have passed. Reasonable supporters of the 2nd Amendment are not upset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other advocates for gun control said they were \u201cthrilled\u201d by the rejection.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllowing people to carry concealed handguns in public without a permit is dangerous and would have put our communities at risk,\u201d said Katie Townley, a volunteer with the Nebraska chapter of Moms Demand Action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nebraska concealed carry handgun bill comes short of votes LINCOLN \u2014 In a surprise, state lawmakers failed to muster enough votes Monday to advance a concealed carry handgun bill, called \u201cconstitutional carry\u201d by some. The vote to invoke cloture was 31-9, two short of what\u2019s needed to stop a filibuster and advance a bill. It … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,5,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-goobermint","category-politics","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79962,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79961\/revisions\/79962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}