Bruning says cities can't ban concealed guns

[huskAR]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10537680

Bruning says cities can't ban concealed guns
BY MARTHA STODDARD
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU



LINCOLN ? State law doesn?t allow cities and towns to ban people from carrying concealed weapons, Attorney General Jon Bruning said today.

A legal opinion issued by Bruning said state law trumps ordinances passed by cities and towns regulating concealed weapons.

State Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial, who sought the opinion, said he did so because he was tired of battling legislatively to force cities and towns to repeal local bans. He tried and failed to get such legislation in 2007.

Now, he said, cities and towns with local ordinances on concealed weapons will have to change their laws or risk being sued in court.

     Read more at the link

[FarmerRick]

http://www.ago.state.ne.us/agopinions/details.htm?searchStr=1&_search_id=2065

Any city or village ordinance prohibiting the carrying of concealed handguns by permitholders would conflict directly with the provisions of the Concealed Handgun Permit Act which authorize permitholders to carry concealed handguns throughout the state and ?anywhere in Nebraska? except in certain specified locations and circumstances. There does not appear to be any reasonable construction of the terms ?throughout the state? and ?anywhere in Nebraska? that would somehow exempt all the cities and villages in the state that have enacted or may enact ordinances prohibiting concealed handguns from their reach. The relatively recently-enacted Concealed Handgun Permit Act and the pre-existing statutes authorizing cities and villages to prohibit concealed weapons are necessarily repugnant to each other, at least insofar as concealed handguns carried by permitholders under the act are concerned. Thus, any ordinances prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons, at least to the extent they may be interpreted as applying to permitholders under the act, are necessarily in conflict with the provisions of the act and would frustrate the purpose of the Legislature in enacting that law. ??That which is allowed by the general laws of the state cannot be prohibited by ordinance, without express grant on the part of the state.?? State ex rel. City of Alma, 266 Neb. at 569, 667 N.W.2d at 522 (quoting, 5 Eugene McQuillin, The Law of Municipal Corporations ? 15.20 at 107). There is no ?express grant? from the state permitting cities and villages to prohibit the carrying of concealed handguns by permitholders.

 

Now for the bad news...I'm sure Ashford will introduce a bill trying to get around this, somehow, by the end of the week.       >

[Aldo]

Well, that's cool!    Way cool!!

But who's got the $ to make the challenge in one of those cities?  And which attorney would successfully take that on?

Last question: Does Bruning's legal opinion really hold water?....or should I keep pulling out that list of cities along with the map as I travel out and about in NE...putting my gun in the truck's lock box, then take it out again, then put it back in again, etc, etc?

[Dan W]

Aldo, all you need to do is open carry if you are concerned. No need to lock it up.

In plain sight on the seat or dash will make you legal

[ranger04]

Now I don't mean to sound like a smart a**, but would it not be prudent to have an open carried firearm secured in a console or glove box instead of being out in the open laying on a seat or dashboard,(now we get into definition of terms, bear with me)  where if you were involved in an accident that weapon could thoretically become a missle. I am trying to figure out a way to attach a holster to the exterior of my console of my vehicle where it would be visible yet secure. Then again, I don't want to have a  fixture that advertises that I may have a firearm in my vehicle. Imagine the looks from fellow motorist if you have a big ole pistol laying up on the dash when your stopped at a red light. Sorry didn't mean to hijack this thread.

[ranger04]

I bet several members of the Columbus city council just got thier skivies in a bunch

[Aldo]

Aldo, all you need to do is open carry if you are concerned. No need to lock it up.

In plain sight on the seat or dash will make you legal

As ranger04 pointed out, I would be concerned about the unpredictable car accident--usually the other driver's error that is out of my control  --or the eye-popping shock of other motorists seeing a handgun out in the open on the dash.

In the case of the unpredictable accident while I have my gun in its IWB holster, I am not so sure that the local LEO in one of those 13 cities would not cite me with anything (despite me having my CCW permit, or with what Bruning has rendered as his legal opinion).

In the case of the reaction of other motorists, again I am not sure of the LEO's response to some motorist calling up 911 or the local LEO and making a case for me re "disturbing the peace" by having my gun in plain sight.

Personally, I just want to be able to carry concealed for self-defense where ever I am in NE (other than the posted and listed banned buildings, etc), and so I like Bruning's legal opinion.  So, it will be interesting to see how those 13 cities handle it.

[JimP]

...... I'd just like to point out that Art. I-1 of the State Constitution says you can carry, also, and if you try it just about anywhere in the state, the popo think you are looking for trouble, and will act accordingly.   If they can thumb their nose at the the State Constution that they swore to uphold, what the hell do they care about the "opinion" of the AG, unless he is willing to put some sharp legal teeth into their arses in defense of that opinion?