Nebraska’s “Lost & Stolen” Bill

It’s been introduced by Senator Brad Ashford:

Senator Brad Ashford of Omaha says his proposed bill would have caused 19-year-old Robert Hawkins to be reported before the rampage.  Others disagree.

The bill would require gun dealers to include trigger locks on every sale, mandate that stolen guns be reported within 48 hours and trace how youths get firearms.

Because parents who are careless enough to allow their firearm to fall into the hands of their mentally disturbed, convicted felon son are, of course, going to dutifully report it to the police as the law says.

This law wouldn’t have prevented anything, except give the police something to charge the father with.

2 thoughts on “Nebraska’s “Lost & Stolen” Bill”

  1. The worst part of this bill is the formation of a Gun Violence Commission. The makeup of the panel contains some of the biggest anti-gunners in the state… with no representation for firearm owners.

    The two mayors on the panel are hardcore antis… Lincoln’s mayor was one of the biggest anti-gun state senators and Omaha’s Mike Fahey is a member of Bloomberg’s anti-gun coalition.

    Finally, the introducing Senator Brad Ashford, in one of his earlier stints in the legislature, is the reason all Nebraskans need a purchase permit before we can buy a handgun.

    As always, track this bill at Joe’s Crabby Shack… joemerchant24.blogspot.com

  2. Joe, thanks for keeping a close eye on that NE bill. Surprisingly enough, we have one pending in the IL legislature.

    One of the bill’s major flaws is that it requires notification of a lost or stolen firearm “within 72 hours after [the owner] obtaining knowledge of the loss or theft.” Looks like yours is 48 hours. But I submit that this bill is meaningless, and here is why:

    “After obtaining knowledge” provides a hell of a lot of wiggle room. It would be to the prosecution to establish the gun owner’s “time to knowledge.” Correct me if I am wrong, but could not anyone claim at any time that they did not know the firearm was missing? I suspect that many firearm owners don’t check their guns everyday to make sure that they are still there….particularly the ones in the back of the safe!

    Seems that this bill is simply and effectively yet another restriction falling on the shoulders of the responsible. I’d like to hear the arguments FOR the bill. Has anyone heard any? Responsible people, I presume, keep a private list of their firearms, with descriptions, serial numbers, etc. If every I found one of my firearms had been stolen, I would report the theft immediately. It is simply the responsible thing to do…same as you do upon the theft of any lawful property. I suspect though that problem guns, or stolen guns, would not be reported anyway. As an aside, this is the major problem with drug prohibition…a bad deal or a theft cannot be reported, so the law-breakers are left with the option of enforcing their own justice.

    So I submit the net gain from a bill like this is that it allows the harassment of law-abiding citizens….and, I predict, might serve as a catalyst for the future consideration of a firearms registry. I further submit that it’s another step toward the criminalization of firearms.

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