The City of Omaha is preparing to repeal a raft of its gun ordinances that conflict with a new Nebraska state law, but the City Council president is looking into new regulations to mitigate the damage.
City Attorney Matt Kuhse has advised the council that it must repeal 22 sections of city code pertaining to firearms, City Council President Pete Festersen said.
According to City Council documents, the ordinances the council will ditch include a requirement to obtain a permit to buy a handgun, a prohibition on people under 21 possessing guns that can be concealed, and restrictions on carrying concealed weapons without a state permit and transporting certain firearms.
That's because the Omaha ordinances are in violation of LB77, which the Nebraska Legislature passed and Gov. Jim Pillen signed into law, Kuhse said.
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The bill will allow Nebraskans 21 and older to carry concealed weapons without a permit. The bill will apply statewide and invalidate any local ordinances limiting that ability. It will take effect Sept. 3.
"We don't want to be doing this," Festersen said. "It's required by the new law."
Mayor Jean Stothert, a majority of the Omaha City Council and Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer opposed LB77. Schmaderer told the Legislature he was concerned that the bill would make it easier for people with criminal offenses to access firearms. He pushed, without success, to alter the bill with exceptions for Omaha, saying that he believed the bill had loopholes that would threaten police and the general public in Omaha.
LB77 says cities, counties and villages in Nebraska cannot "regulate the ownership, possession, storage, transportation, sale, or transfer of firearms or other weapons, except as expressly provided by state law." And it declares any city ordinances, including Omaha's, that do regulate those matters to be null and void, Kuhse said.
"It's important that they're taken off the books because the public needs to know that," Kuhse said. "... Maybe they'd look it up, see something out there, and believe (the city gun regulations) are still intact and call the police or something. The public needs to be aware that this is what the Legislature wanted."
Festersen said he's very concerned about the effects of the new state law in Omaha. He said Omaha's gun ordinances have been effective in getting illegal guns off the street and have helped Omaha police combat gun violence.
"LB77 failed to recognize that cities are facing a different situation and do need local control," he said.
Festersen is asking the City Law Department to research what he calls "new common-sense gun regulations" in cooperation with the Omaha Police Department and City Council.
In a memo sent Wednesday to Kuhse, Festersen asked for research into "regulating ghost guns, banning bump stocks, and making sure public places such as schools, public buildings, and event centers are protected." Festersen also asked Kuhse to determine whether LB77 prohibits a city from adopting "red flag" laws, or banning or regulating assault weapons within city limits.
Festersen's memo cited portions of Lincoln city code that ban guns and other dangerous weapons in city or county facilities and bans "multi-burst trigger activators."
"I want to pursue new measures that can better address illegal guns and violence in the community and increase community safety," Festersen said. He also has police officer safety in mind, he said.
Kuhse said Thursday that he had just received the memo and that his office will go to work on the request. Festersen asked for research and opinions by Aug. 25. The council is expected to have a public hearing and vote on repealing the ordinances Aug. 29.
"We're going to be looking to see what we can do within the confines, the guardrails, set by LB77," Kuhse said. "Both the police and the mayor's office have also been looking at it to see what can be done. We want to make sure it's something that will work. We've got to make sure it's something we can enforce. We don't want to have a law just to be symbolic."
The US surpasses 160 mass shootings in 2023. Here's every event mapped
The US surpasses 100 mass shootings in 2023—here's every event mapped
Since the start of 2023, the United States has averaged more than one mass shooting per day. The Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit group that tracks gun violence using police reports, government sources, news coverage, and other public data, counted 106 mass shootings in 2023 as of March 9—a period of 68 days.
No official, universal definition of what constitutes a mass shooting currently exists. Groups define it differently based on the number of victims, whether they are killed or injured, whether the shooting occurs in a public or private space, and whether the shooter targets victims. The Gun Violence Archive defines it as an event in which at least four people were killed or injured.
The lack of a consistent definition creates opportunities for people to interpret the data differently, making it difficult for lawmakers to establish a set of agreed-upon facts upon which to address the issue of gun control.
For example, using a much narrower definition of a mass shooting, security specialists who drafted a 2013 congressional report identified just 78 mass shooting events between 1983 and 2012. This figure starkly contrasts the GVA's findings for 2014, which determined 273 mass shootings had occurred that year alone.
As to more recent figures, the Gun Violence Archive recorded 647 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2022. Compared to this time last year, mass shootings in 2023 are outpacing last year's rate. Stacker cited data from the Gun Violence Archive to visualize the scope of mass shootings thus far in 2023. Data is as of March 7, 2023.
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Mass shootings have happened in gun-friendly states—and some stricter ones
Several of the states where mass shootings have occurred this year are those that don't require gun owners to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon. However, some of the most high-profile mass shootings of this year, like those in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park, California, and Washington D.C., happened in states with stricter gun laws.
Gun violence in the U.S. is a complex problem with many contributing factors beyond state laws. A 2022 study from Everytown for Gun Safety comparing state laws to rates of gun violence, however, shows a correlation between the two. States with the most restrictions on gun users also have the lowest rates of gun-related deaths, while states with fewer regulations have a higher death rate from guns.
At 120 firearms per 100 residents, the U.S. is the only country in the world with more civilian-owned guns than people, according to the 2018 Small Arms Survey.
Mass shootings take place in nearly every type of public and private space
This year, shooters have attacked people at college campuses, cultural celebrations, gas stations, private residences, downtowns, and even on highways.
The deadliest single event to date remains the Jan 21. shooting in Monterey Park, California, where a gunman killed 11 people and wounded nine others at a dance hall in an Asian American community during a Lunar New Year celebration.
Nine mass shooting incidents occurred between Feb. 17 and Feb. 19—the most of any weekend in 2023. That weekend, nine children were shot at a gas station in Georgia, six people were shot on I-57 in Chicago, leaving one toddler dead, and five people, including one 4-year-old, were shot at a parade in New Orleans.
Firearms are the leading cause of death in people under the age of 24 years in the U.S., according to a study published in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics in December 2022.
Mass shootings have happened in gun-friendly states—and some stricter ones
Several of the states where mass shootings have occurred this year are those that don't require gun owners to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon. However, some of this year's most high-profile mass shootings, like those in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park, California, and Washington D.C., happened in states with stricter gun laws.
Gun violence in the U.S. is a complex problem with many contributing factors beyond state laws. A 2022 study from Everytown for Gun Safety comparing state laws to rates of gun violence, however, shows a correlation between the two. States with the most restrictions on gun users also have the lowest rates of gun-related deaths, while states with fewer regulations have a higher death rate from guns.
At 120 firearms per 100 residents, the U.S. is the only country in the world with more civilian-owned guns than people, according to the 2018 Small Arms Survey.
Mass shootings take place in nearly every type of public and private space
This year, shooters have attacked people at college campuses, cultural celebrations, gas stations, private residences, downtowns, highways, and most recently, elementary schools.
The deadliest single event to date remains the Jan 21. shooting in Monterey Park, California, where a gunman killed 11 people and wounded nine others at a dance hall in an Asian American community during a Lunar New Year celebration.
Nine mass shooting incidents occurred between Feb. 17 and Feb. 19—the most of any weekend in 2023. That weekend, nine children were shot at a gas station in Georgia, six people were shot on I-57 in Chicago leaving one toddler dead, and five people, including a 4-year-old, were shot at a parade in New Orleans.
Mass shootings have happened in gun-friendly states—and some stricter ones
Several of the states where mass shootings have occurred this year are those that don't require gun owners to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. However, some of the most high-profile mass shootings of this year, like those in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park, California, and Washington D.C., happened in states with stricter gun laws.
Gun violence in the U.S. is a complex problem with many contributing factors beyond state laws; however, a 2022 study from Everytown for Gun Safety comparing state laws to rates of gun violence shows a correlation between the two. States with the most restrictions on gun users also have the lowest rates of gun-related deaths, while states with fewer regulations have a higher death rate from guns.
At 120 firearms per 100 residents, the U.S. is the only country in the world with more civilian-owned guns than people, according to the 2018 Small Arms Survey.
Mass shootings take place in nearly every type of public and private space
This year, shooters have attacked people at schools, cultural celebrations, gas stations, private residences, downtowns, highways, and most recently, workplaces.
The deadliest single event to date remains the Jan 21. shooting in Monterey Park, California, where a gunman killed 11 people and wounded nine others at a dance hall in an Asian American community during a Lunar New Year celebration.
Nine mass shooting incidents occurred between Feb. 17 and Feb. 19—the most of any weekend in 2023. That weekend, nine children were shot at a gas station in Georgia, six people were shot on I-57 in Chicago leaving one toddler dead, and five people, including a 4-year-old, were shot at a parade in New Orleans.
Mass shootings have happened in gun-friendly states—and some stricter ones
Several of the states where mass shootings have occurred this year are those that don't require gun owners to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. In Alabama—where the April 15 Dadeville incident became the largest mass shooting of 2023—any person 19 or older may carry a handgun in the state without a permit, background check, or safety training unless prohibited by state or federal law.
However, some of the most high-profile mass shootings of this year, like those in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park, California, and Washington D.C., happened in states with stricter gun laws.
Gun violence in the U.S. is a complex problem with many contributing factors beyond state laws; however, a 2022 study from Everytown for Gun Safety comparing state laws to rates of gun violence shows a correlation between the two. States with the most restrictions on gun users also have the lowest rates of gun-related deaths, while states with fewer regulations have a higher death rate from guns.
At 120 firearms per 100 residents, the U.S. is the only country in the world with more civilian-owned guns than people, according to the 2018 Small Arms Survey.
Mass shootings take place in nearly every type of public and private space
This year, shooters have attacked people at schools, cultural celebrations, gas stations, private residences, downtowns, highways, workplaces, and most recently, birthday parties.
The deadliest single event to date remains the Jan 21. shooting in Monterey Park, California, where a gunman killed 12 people and wounded nine others at a dance hall in an Asian American community during a Lunar New Year celebration.
Ten mass shooting incidents occurred between April 14 and April 16—the most of any weekend in 2023. On April 15, a gunman killed four people and injured dozens attending a Sweet 16 birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama. The majority of those killed or injured were teens.
