Media article on what happened is here:
“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.
Well, I’m glad Ashford his a brick wall in this case. I think getting rid of a permit to purchase system is a good move. It’s hard to get rid of bad legiselation even when everyone agrees its bad. Even harder to turn a gun control bill into something that gets rid of a gun control law.
“I’ve received hundreds of phone calls from NRA members, and I have committed and promised to hundreds of constituents that I would not support this,” said Sen. Arnie Stuthman of Platte Center. “I have no assurances that the NRA has informed its members that it has agreed to the bill.”
Stuthman was one of 13 lawmakers who voted against the bill.
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.
After considerable opposition from Nebraska’s law-abiding gun owners, Senator Ashford significantly revised his original bill by removing the sections of the bill dealing with the reporting of lost or stolen firearms, mandatory gun locks and posting requirements. The new version of his bill would, however, have required the creation of an “Assault Weapons Commission” that would have been charged with making a list of firearms that it believed should be illegal in Nebraska. Despite being gutted from its original form, LB958 was still unacceptable to Nebraska’s gun owners and sportsmen. However, thanks to the hard work of NRA and gun owners in Nebraska, Senator Ashford again agreed to narrow the scope of his bill resulting in Amendment 2235.
Read the whole thing to find out what Amendment 2235 is.
There is a growing number of Nebraska’s gun owners who think this bill is bad juju.
The comments section at The Shack is getting a little vulgar, actually. Some directed at the NRA. Some at lawmakers.
It sounds odd, but a lot of people would rather keep the stupid permit rather than deal with the Crime Commission every two years deciding what guns are dangerous. There exists the potential for a gun ban out of this panel (made up of anti-gun LE chiefs).
The NRA dropped its opposition late enough that it created huge confusion on the floor, causing some senators to vote yes. I’ve already spoken to two who, in the light of morning, are questioning what they did.
On the upside… AM1964 (assault weapons ban) is dead, dead, dead.
The panel is a legitimate concern, but I wouldn’t be too worried about it. Unless there’s already an existing movement for gun control in your legislature, which the result of this would indicate there isn’t much of one, this commission will issue a report which will promptly be ignored. Ashford I think has also had a bit of a humbling moment here. It’s a face saving defeat for him. Not a good thing for legislators to have often, as they have to be seen as effective by their constituents if they wish to remain in office. That’s probably going to mean other gun control advocates will be a bit gun shy (pardon the pun) about bringing up future gun control measures. They won’t want to risk incurring a wrath of gun owners on either themselves or their colleagues.
When you said Ashcroft, did you mean Ashford?
Ooops
“Unless there’s already an existing movement for gun control in your legislature,
”
There is such- in the form of the Judiciary Committee…..
The thing to keep in mind is that the Nebraska Legislature is a UNICAMERAL . There is only one body, a “senate” apportioned based on population, the only one of its kind- even Maine realized it was a BAD THING. Also, these people are only in session a very short time. Things happen very fast, if at all. Note the sneaky underhanded way CCW got banned from Universities last fall…..this Gun Crime Commission would be a de-facto anti-gun platform that would generate legislation EVERY two years. It would not be subject to term limits as the Antis on the Judiciary Committee ARE. We couldn’t even vote them out of office if they pissed us off, as they are POLITICAL APPOINTEES! If we get an anti for a Governor (We’ve had Democrats as Governor, Ashford is a Republican, hell it COULD happen!) then you would have an assault weapons bill, sure as shootin’.
I still say kill it. That commission is the Camel’s nose, folks. Once it’s in the tent, then the whole Camel will follow. Unless…….. no, not even if they gave us pre-emption AND interstate reciprocity. Of what use is that if everyother year the State Bans another list of guns? How is a death by 1,000 cuts make you any less dead?
I do the Ashford/Ashcroft thing at least 10 times per post. No worries.
Our house is pretty conservative, but there is a staunch anti-gun body. And, never overlook Sen. Ernie Chambers (google is your friend) who hates, hates, hates, hates guns.
The result of our pressure on this bill is not the norm. I hope this is the leading edge of a new trend. Remember, it took 10 years to pass CCW.
I am not too impressed with the concessions made with this bill, the bill should not have gone forward in any form. The committe is just a precursor to more legislation. If this committee recommends that high cap magazines go away, who is to stop that? The legislature needs to be working on ways to stop the crime in the state, not make law abiding citizens criminals
There’s little doubt that Ashford jumped the gun on trying to ban certain semi-automatic firearms, but he’s pretty obviously laying groundwork. You guys seem to have a fairly pro-gun legislature, but obviously, based on what managed to get through, it’s not perfect.
I have more on how this stuff happens in this post
It was defeated? Not. It was passed with amendments that made it less noxious. So they picked the corn out of a turd, hosed it downwith perfume, and put a piece of tough round steak on the plate next to it. Are you gonna EAT it? I didn’t want the round steak in the first damn place……….
So you’re saying you’d pass up the opportunity to get rid of a gun control law today, because it might lead to more gun control tomorrow? There’s always a possibility of more gun control tomorrow. The people that push this crap don’t give up.