Priority deadline Feb. 21; red flag law no one's priority yet

We are over a third of the way through this legislative session and we still have a lot of important issues to deal with. In a short session, however, prioritizing a bill gives it a better chance of being heard on the floor of the legislature. We have until adjournment on February 21st to submit a senator priority bill designation. Committees are also allowed to submit up to two bills for priority designation. We can submit a request for a Speaker priority bill designation until February 19th. At this time I have not decided on a bill to make my personal priority. I have yet to decide upon a bill to designate as my senator priority bill.

I am sure many of you have heard about LB58, the so-called “red flag law”. It is a carryover bill that was voted out of the Judiciary Committee last Friday with a 5-2-1 vote. The two recorded “nay” votes came from the only two Republican senators that serve on the committee. The Judiciary Committee filed AM2123 as of last Friday which strikes sections and adds new language. We would see a fiscal impact on the state by enacting LB58. This bill would allow several of our Federal Constitutional rights to be violated concurrently. This bill would allow anyone who believes you are a danger to yourself or to others to report you to local law enforcement. Your privacy would be violated and your guns confiscated without any due process of law. Michael Bloomberg of New York has been spending millions of dollars around the country promoting the banning of guns, a direct assault on our 2nd Amendment rights. Subsequently, some of that influence has found its way to Nebraska. I want to be very clear, there are people living among us who should not own guns. Those convicted of violent crimes, those who are deemed mentally incompetent, and individuals with protection orders, are not and should not be allowed to possess guns. The legislature has enacted legislation throughout the years that provide enforcement and compliance. One of the cornerstones of our democracy is that one is innocent until proven guilty. LB58 begins with the assumption of a guilty verdict until proven innocent with someone outside of law enforcement or credentials in a given diagnostic field to make that judgment.

As of this article’s publication, no senator has submitted a request for LB58 to be their priority bill. I have not heard of any colleagues thinking along those lines. It will have to take a senator’s priority designation for us to see any debate over this bill’s contents. I would like to discuss this on the floor and have votes tallied so our constituents know exactly where we as their elected representatives stand on the 2nd Amendment, especially those up for re-election. If LB58 somehow receives a personal priority designation and does move to the floor for debate by the full legislative body, I will be fully engaged along with many of my colleagues doing everything within our power to stop this assault on our civil liberties and our personal freedoms.

Please feel free to contact my office with any questions or concerns that you might have. My email address is dhughes@leg.ne.gov and my phone number is (402) 471-2805. You can read more about bills and other work of the Legislature at www.nebraskalegislature.gov, and you can click on the Live Video Streaming NET logo to watch sessions, hearings, and other Capitol events.