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Nebraska Firearms Owners Association - Victims Protection Act

Nebraska Firearms Owners Association

Omaha, NE --(Ammoland.com)- As I write this I have just finished preparing my testimony for the hearing on LB 804, scheduled for this afternoon. I am about to leave for the Capital. Before I do I wanted to get some important information to you.

What many have referred to as Castle Doctrine has been a priority of ours for the past few years. With LB 804, we have a shot this year. But we need Nebraskans to act. I need your help. Do you use Facebook? Share the ProtectVictimsNow.org website. Tell your friends about this important legislation. Please forward this note to your family and friends. Talk about this issue with your neighbors.

The 2012 Legislative session is in full swing. New Bills have been introduced and some of them have already been placed on the hearing schedules. This year we are only getting 7 days notice for hearing schedules. It was 10 or 11 days last year. Since this is a short session year things are moving fast

We tried something new this year for voting on the issues. In the past all voting occurred on our website, or the forum. This year we sent a link to the survey out with a newsletter in order to get wider exposure to the membership. If you haven’t voted, you still can. The link to the survey is here. Please take a moment and let us know what position you’d like the NFOA to take on these important pieces of legislation.

Priority Bill Needs Your Help
The NFOA has spent the last 3 years tirelessly working with the Legislature to pass a Victims Protection Act in Nebraska, which some have called the Castle Doctrine. In past years, we’ve been blocked by the stubborn resistance from several liberal senators on the Judiciary Committee who choose to protect criminals over victims. But this year will be different. This year, we have a new bill introduced: LB 804, and we see this bill making it out of the Judiciary Committee, to the floor for a general vote, and ultimately passing.

Our approach this year is much more aggressive. As an NFOA member, you know that we’ve launched ProtectVictimsNow.org, a website dedicated to educating Nebraska voters on the Victim Protection Act. But we need to reach Nebraskans who haven’t joined the NFOA yet. We need them to call and write their senators, just like you have been doing. So to reach them, we have prepared a radio ad ready to air on stations throughout Nebraska to call those Nebraskans to action and join you and I in working to get the Victims Protection Act passed.

The challenge is that airing radio ads costs money. And as a non-profit organization, the NFOA must raise those funds through donations. As a non-profit organization, we have worked out a greatly reduced rate of just under $5000 to air over 100 Victims Protection Act radio ads throughout the State that will reach over 70,000 Nebraska voters. That’s a lot of money, but we have well over 5000 NFOA members and if every single one of us chipped in, as little as $1, we can mobilize well over 10 times our NFOA membership and push this bill beyond the few obstructive senators in Judiciary Committee and to the Unicameral floor, where we know there is enough support for the Victim Protection Act to pass.

Do you want to be secure in knowing that your home is your castle? Do you want to have the piece of mind knowing that if you ever have to legally defend yourself or your family that the violent criminal (or his family) won’t be able to hire an ambulance-chasing lawyer to sue you for your life savings? Then please consider donating to the ProtectVictimsNow.org operation. Together we can get LB804 passed and have a Victims Protection Act in Nebraska this year!

Member voting
The position we take to the Legislature and lobby for is what you our members tell use to take. Take the legislative survey here.

To participate in discussions of these bills please join us in the forums.

Mission -
Nebraska Firearms Owners Association (NFOA) is organized for the purpose of voicing the opinion of its membership to the Nebraska Legislature and other law making bodies within the state as well as Federal level, as it pertains to firearms. NFOA members will also make it a priority to educate residents on firearms related issues.
On the web: www.NebraskaFirearms.org or email: AAllen@NebraskaFirearms.org for more information

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Request for Support of Legislation – LB802

Open Letter to NFOA & Nebraskans Seeking Support for Prosecutorial Carry

Nebraska Firearms Owners Association

Omaha, NE --(Ammoland.com)- President Allen and Members of the NFOA Board:

My name is Matthew Mellor, and I am a Deputy County Attorney for Seward County, Nebraska. I am writing to you to request that the NFOA lend its support to LB 802 in this current legislative session.

I proposed the language that would later become LB 802, and I am thankful to Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh for agreeing to introduce it as one of his bills. In general, LB 802 would allow prosecutors in Nebraska to carry a concealed handgun in places where such action is currently prohibited. LB 802 limits a prosecutor’s carrying in such “gun-free zones” to the fulfillment of his or her responsibilities of employment. In short, this bill would allow prosecutors to protect themselves while working to put criminals behind bars. As a prosecutor, I know that people in this line of work are sometimes the subject of very serious threats, and among other things, this bill is intended to address those threats.

I have been following the discussion of LB 802 on the NFOA’s online forum, and as I expected, there is some resistance to the bill because it is creating an exception for a specific group of people. I understand the “if I can’t carry in those places, why should someone else be able to” line of thinking, but I don’t subscribe to it. Don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe that everyone has the right to defend themselves, regardless of where they may be. The type of building they happen to be in shouldn’t matter. I do, however, know that the legislative process isn’t that clear-cut.

I am familiar with the legislative process, and there is a bit of logic to bills such as LB 802. While the ultimate goal for me and probably the NFOA, as well, would be for Constitutional Carry to become a reality in Nebraska, I know that changes to the law don’t come all at once. It took years and years of activity in the Legislature before Sen. Combs was finally able to get the Concealed Handgun Permit Act (CHPA) passed back in 2006, and it’s going to take a significant amount of time before we get to Constitutional Carry in this state.

LB 802, while being an immediate benefit to prosecutors, would also serve as a benefit to the greater concealed carry community, as one poster on the forum rightly noted. This bill is an opportunity to get the proverbial foot in the door that may one day lead to Constitutional Carry, or at least a more relaxed permit system. Sen. Lautenbaugh likely agreed to carry this bill because he thought it would not be that difficult to make an exception for prosecutors based on the nature of their work, as long as such exception was limited to their employment.

It is my position that LB 802 is merely a first step toward a more relaxed permit system, or even Constitutional Carry. Logic would hold that once more and more exceptions to the current CHPA are enacted, there will be fewer restrictions and we may get to see Constitutional Carry in Nebraska. LB 802 and bills that will be introduced in the future slowly erode the restrictions of the CHPA, and will be a benefit to all concealed handgun permit holders.

I appreciate your consideration of LB 802, and again, I ask for the NFOA to support this important legislation.

Mission -
Nebraska Firearms Owners Association (NFOA) is organized for the purpose of voicing the opinion of its membership to the Nebraska Legislature and other law making bodies within the state as well as Federal level, as it pertains to firearms. NFOA members will also make it a priority to educate residents on firearms related issues.
On the web: www.NebraskaFirearms.org or email: AAllen@NebraskaFirearms.org for more information.

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