I am a defender of the Second Amendment. I firmly believe it is the one constitutional amendment which guarantees all the others. The first role of government is to defend our rights, not pass laws that further infringe upon them. The Second Amendment is already the only constitutional “right” we have to ask permission to use.
With this in mind it is no surprise that I am opposed to LB 58, a bill introduced by Senator Morfeld of Lincoln. It is called the “Extreme Risk Protection Order Act” also known as a “Red Flag Law.”
This bill would create a new process for taking guns away from lawful gun owners. This isn’t a Nebraska solution to a Nebraska problem. Much of the language in the bill is taken word-for-word from Florida and Washington laws, and a bill currently pending in Colorado. LB 58 would allow law enforcement to file a petition for an order to take guns away from people, but what is particularly troubling, is the bill would also allow other people to file a petition. Any family member, no matter how distantly related, current and former spouses, anyone the subject had ever dated, or anyone who had ever been a roommate of the subject. All of this takes place without any due process. The gun owner’s first indication there is a problem is the police showing up with a court order to seize his guns.