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Gun
group urges Nebraska lawmakers to close the 'Omaha loophole'
Passage
of a concealed carry statute in Nebraska was a good first step toward
insuring the safety of Cornhusker State citizens, but the new law
has a gaping loophole that apparently allows cities like Omaha to
continue denying their residents the right of personal protection.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and
Bear Arms (CCRKBA) is encouraging residents of Omaha, Lincoln and
other communities to start contacting their city councils, demanding
that they reject any attempt to prohibit concealed carry as the
City of Omaha is apparently planning to do, based on a 70-year-old
ordinance.
"A report in the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper
pretty much said it all," noted CCRKBA Executive Director Joe
Waldron. "Anti-public safety lawmakers in Omaha are against
the new law, and are defending a local ordinance that bans concealed
firearms, even when the majority of Omaha legislators voted for
it.
"It must be okay with city officials that
criminals have illegally carried concealed guns for many years,"
Waldron added, "but they evidently just can't stand the idea
that honest citizens might be able to fight back under a new law,
and this in a city where the murder rate is twice that for the rest
of the state."
The Journal Star report said that "A loophole
in the (state) law now makes the positions of city council members
and mayors across the state most important. It appears that the
law will allow cities to override the law and ban conceal (sic)
carry. Look for Lincoln to try and take advantage of the loophole.
Omaha already has a law on the books prohibiting concealed weapons."
There is disagreement whether the state law will allow communities
to adopt new ordinances banning concealed carry, or just honor Omaha's
1936 ban, or preempt such laws altogether.
"Time and time again we hear anti-gun extremists
howl about mythical 'gun show loopholes' when they attack perfectly
legal firearms exhibitions," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb.
"But now comes a genuine legal 'loophole,' identified by a
Nebraska newspaper, that defies public safety, the will of the legislature
and common sense, and the press is tickled pink, and so are the
anti-gun politicians who plan to take advantage of that loophole.
Their hypocrisy and social bigotry against law-abiding armed citizens
appears to have no maximum depth to which it can sink."
Copyright © 2006 Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms, All Rights Reserved.
Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms www.ccrkba.org
James Madison Building
12500 N.E. Tenth Place
Bellevue, WA 98005
Toll Free: 800-426-4302
Email: InformationRequest@ccrkba.org
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