(VitalNews.org) – According to two lawsuits recently filed in Nebraska, the state’s two largest cities are currently violating new state gun legislation by banning firearms from public places like parks.
The Nebraska Firearms Owners Association is suing the state’s two biggest cities for allegedly violating state firearms legislation. Two lawsuits were filed by the Liberty Justice Center that challenge executive orders issued in Lincoln and Omaha by each city’s respective mayor, alleging the orders violate Nebraska’s new gun laws.
Nebraska lawmakers passed a new bill in April allowing Nebraska citizens to carry concealed firearms throughout the state without requiring a permit or a mandatory firearm safety course. The law also overrides stricter laws in local municipalities, such as those in Lincoln and Omaha.
Despite the new legislation already in place, the lawsuits state that Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert issued illegal orders banning guns from city property, such as public sidewalks and parks. According to the lawsuits, the Omaha City Council banned the manufacturing of parts for so-called “ghost guns,” and ordinances regulating weapons have also yet to be repealed by the Lincoln City Council.
Liberty Justice Center president Jacob Huebert said the Nebraska state law is clear, and no local governments can regulate firearms. Huebert said the mayors of these cities “defied state law” with their orders. He added that Liberty Justice Center looks forward “to seeing those orders” and similar regulations “struck down.”
Attorneys for both cities responded by maintaining that the cities’ actions to protect residents’ “safety and quality of life” are “in compliance with the law.” Omaha’s City Attorney told local reporters that the city plans on defending against the lawsuit and in favor of municipalities “to protect the safety and health” of residents “within the bounds of the law.”
Days before the lawsuits, the Attorney General of Nebraska, Michael Higlers, published an opinion piece reminding the mayors that the state law overrides their executive orders. Higlers also claims the orders infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of their city’s residents and violate the Nebraska Constitution.
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