NRA helps to defeat gun control in Nebraska

[Fremmer]

If anyone is wondering about the effectiveness of the NRA to defeat gun control legislation, the following provides a key example of how the NRA protects your right keep and bear arms:

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Amended gun control bill advances to full Legislature
BY JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star
Wednesday, Feb 20, 2008 - 10:39:04 pm CST
Members of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee on Wednesday advanced a much modified gun control bill (LB958) to the full Legislature.

The bill as amended would create an Assault Weapons Commission with seven members that would define and compile a list of such weapons, reporting to the Legislature whether they should be illegal.

The bill defines the general characteristics of assault weapons. The commission would be required to deliver its report by Feb. 1, 2009. It would also provide an updated list to the Judiciary Committee every other year.

Committee Chairman Brad Ashford of Omaha said senators would evaluate the list of “inherently dangerous assault weapons” and decide whether any should be banned in the state for sale or resale.

“What the public is concerned about is military style assault weapons,” he said.

The committee advanced the bill on a 6-0 vote, with Sens. Dwite Pedersen of Elkhorn and Pete Pirsch of Omaha not voting.

In its original form, the bill required reporting of lost or stolen firearms within 48 hours, trigger locks and tracing of firearms found in possession of minors. It also established a 12-member gun violence commission.

The bill came, in part, as a result of a mass killing in December at Omaha’s Westroads Mall, in which 19-year-old Robert Hawkins opened fire inside the Von Maur department store killing eight people and himself.

The NRA opposed the bill during a hearing by the committee.

Senator Ashford was very specific about what he wanted to ban:

State Sen. Brad Ashford, sponsor of the bill and amendment, said he decided this week that the original provisions would do little to prevent another incident like the Von Maur shootings at Omaha's Westroads Mall.

After briefly considering requiring permits to purchase any firearm, whether handgun or long gun, he decided to focus on what he called "military-style" weapons.

"The assault weapons are the problem," he said. "There are some guns that are so inherently dangerous — they have no purpose for hunting. Those are the weapons we need to consider taking off the street."

Ashford proposes a governor-appointed commission of representatives from the State Patrol, the City of Omaha and a city other than Omaha; the governor, the attorney general and the Judiciary Committee chairman or their designees; and a firearms retailer.

The panel would define assault weapons, using criteria specified in the bill, and identify a list of weapons that meet those characteristics to be presented to the Legislature.

Ashford said it's possible that the commission would recommend that no guns be banned, but the approach would give law enforcement and other weapons professionals an opportunity to "take a crack at the issue."

"Nebraska has many avid hunters and sportsmen," the Omaha lawmaker said. "We have the expertise and knowledge to set these kinds of standards, and we should set the standards."

The bill describes the general characteristics of an assault weapon this way:

• A semiautomatic center-fire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine, with any one of the following: a pistol grip protruding conspicuously beneath the weapon's action; a thumbhole stock; a folding or telescoping stock; a grenade launcher or flare launcher; a flash suppressor; or a forward pistol grip.

• A semiautomatic center-fire rifle with a fixed magazine with capacity for more than 10 rounds.

• A semiautomatic center-fire rifle that has an overall length of less than 30 inches.

The NRA took action to oppose the proposed legislation, and here's what happened (from the Omaha World Herald:

LINCOLN — Under pressure from the National Rifle Association, State Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha has rewritten his gun-control proposal for the second time.

In the version he brought to lawmakers Wednesday, Ashford no longer calls for a new commission to identify "inherently dangerous" guns that ought to be banned in Nebraska.

"No bill to ban any weapons will pass this Legislature," Ashford said, explaining his about-face.

Instead, Legislative Bill 958 proposes that the Nebraska Crime Commission study gun violence and illegal firearms trafficking in Nebraska.

The bill also calls for repeal of a 1991 law requiring people to obtain a permit before they can purchase a handgun.

Lawmakers gave the amended measure first-round approval in a 25-13 vote.

Ashford, who wrote the handgun permit law during his previous tenure in the Legislature, said state gun permits have been superseded by national instant background checks for gun purchases.

He said the federal system provides a more thorough review of purchasers' criminal histories and mental health status than does the state's handgun permit process.

Nebraska gun dealers already conduct the instant checks on those purchasing long guns. If the state permit system is eliminated, handgun purchasers will be reviewed through the federal system.

Jordan Austin, a lobbyist for the NRA, said his organization dropped its opposition to Ashford's bill.

Although the NRA views the crime commission study as unnecessary, Austin said, the group is pleased by Ashford's agreement to repeal the handgun permit law.

Austin said the federal instant background checks — conducted via a toll-free telephone call while the customer waits — are quicker, cheaper and more thorough than state permits.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha said it was almost funny that lawmakers hesitated to support the bill after the considerable concessions Ashford made to the NRA.

Chambers called the bill a "piece of Swiss cheese" that would not address his concerns about ready and easy access of firearms to young black men and young Latino men.

"This bill is zero minus zero, times zero, divided by zero — which means zero," he said.

"The lion has laid down with the lamb, and both are in position in the office of the taxidermist. All life has departed."

GO NRA!!!! Thank goodness the NRA organized NRA members to contact Senator Ashford and the other Nebraska legislators to oppose the new banning commission. No application for hunting, indeed. :barf:

 

[Yellowfin]

Good, now spray the anthill.