(Lincoln Journal Star)—Lincoln’s city attorney spent the bulk of a hearing Tuesday trying to convince a judge not to temporarily put a halt to the city’s ban on guns in public places as an Omaha judge did earlier this month in a similar case brought by the same gun rights group.
… On Tuesday in Lincoln, Texas attorney Jacob Huebert of the Liberty Justice Center, who represents the Nebraska gun group in both cases, said the judge there concluded that Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert’s executive order likely was preempted by state law.
“The plaintiffs respectfully submit that this court should enjoin the amended weapons ban and the park weapons ordinance for the same reasons,” he said.
And Huebert argued the plaintiffs—three Lincoln men and a fourth from Seward County—did have standing. Each submitted a declaration saying prior to the executive order they carried their firearms into city parks, on hiking and biking trails and at dog parks.
“Some of them conceal-carry 100% of the time. Some half of the time. Some most of the time. But they’ve all said that they did do this, and now they specifically avoid carrying on city property because of this ban because they don’t want to violate any law,” he said.
Huebert said it was appropriate for them to challenge the ban because it’s altered their behavior.
“You don’t have to go break the law and be charged with a crime before you challenge a law that affects you as unconstitutional or illegal. So the plaintiffs have done the right thing here,” he said.
… In court Tuesday, Liberty Justice Center President Jacob Huebert said the issue was “relatively simple.”
“The mayor’s order and the parks weapons ordinance do exactly what LB77 prohibits. They regulate the possession and the carrying of firearms in the city,” he said.
… He said the city’s effort to frame it as a policy issue, not a law, doesn’t change the threat his clients face should they attempt to exercise their rights protected by state law.
“LB77 says they’re not allowed to regulate firearms. Period. And this is a regulation of firearms,” he said.
Read the full article in the Lincoln Journal Star.