Posted on 02/01/2003 12:29:47 AM PST by Super Mak90kid
Mayor, chief seek gun restrictions BY AARONS ANDERFORD / Lincoln Journal Star and NATE JENKINS
If Lincoln's mayor and police chief get their way, more criminals could be arrested for carrying guns, and others could find it harder to sell potentially stolen goods.
Mayor Don Wesely and Police Chief Tom Casady offered three potential ordinances Thursday. They plan to bring the proposals to the City Council in March.
The proposals will ask the council to enact the following changes:
• Prohibit people convicted of theft or a theft-related crimes twice over the last 10 years from selling or trading property to pawn brokers and dealers of secondhand jewelry.
• Make it illegal to keep firearms in parked, unattended vehicles for more than 24 hours.
• Outlaw firearms possession for people convicted of any of 19 charges the mayor and chief selected as "serious, violent or potentially violent misdemeanors."
Police say they found a positive reaction to the first proposal when Casady met Jan. 17 with pawn shop owners and managers.
Jeremy Cosier, manager of Capitol City Pawn &Jewelry, 2541 N. 11th St., said owners initially worried what would be required of them. Those fears were allayed.
"What it's going to try to do is weed out a bad element," Cosier said. "Pawn shops get that bad image, but we're more than happy to cooperate with police and get those types of folks out of the shops."
State law requires pawn shops to provide police information about items they purchase and the people who sold them.
If the proposal were to pass, police would be able to cross-reference lists of who's selling what with lists of known criminals and arrest those who sell items to pawn shops or dealers of secondhand jewelry.
Pawn brokers would not be given a "hot" list of names to avoid, officials said, but would be required to avoid buying from people they knew were convicted twice of such crimes.
No one interviewed Thursday expressed angst about the 24-hour proposal for keeping handguns out of unattended cars.
Investigators brought the ordinance idea to Casady after several victims of larcenies from autos reported firearms stolen.
The firearms-possession ban is modeled on restrictions Omaha uses to keep people convicted of violent misdemeanors from getting gun permits.
Omaha's ordinance also denies gun registration to anyone with a record of drug use or of dangerous mental disorders.
Lincoln's proposal would not address the mental health or substance abuse questions, because both are addressed in state law, Casady said.
But the language of the proposals could ignite legal challenges if written too broadly, said Tim Butz, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska.
Butz worried most about the inclusion of "obstructing government operations" among misdemeanors that could eliminate someone's right to bear arms.
Political demonstrators, particularly at war times, are cited for such crimes, he said.
"What the mayor and the chief are talking about could be completely constitutional if done right, and it could be flagrantly unconstitutional if not,"he said.
City Council members, some of whom first learned of the proposals Thursday, said they need more information and discussion before they'll take concrete positions.
Framing the gun-possession debate will be questions of fairness -- specifically fairness to those convicted of the targeted crimes, council members said.
Councilwoman Annette McRoy said she doesn't yet know enough to say "yea or nay" but added that the ordinances "sound good."
Councilwoman Coleen Seng, a candidate for mayor, said she trusts Casady's judgment.
Councilman Ken Svoboda said public reaction could be a major factor in his decision.
"I'm for anything that takes firearms out of the hands of a potential or convicted criminal," said Svoboda. "But there's a fine line" between public protection and infringing on an individual's rights.
Reach Aaron Sanderford at 473-7225 or asanderford@journalstar.com Reach Nate Jenkins at 473-7223 or njenkins@journalstar.com.
I am sure you leave it there for 24 hours each time you go into one of those places.
Hey, Arch, does that work in Jersey?
I usta deliver [jewelry and schedule II and III narcotics/pharmecuticals] to Toms River, Newark and Atlantic City, so it would seem so. Had a fun chat with a NJ Trooper one time during which his supervisors were phoned by DEA and told he'd be charged with a federal felony for interference with an interstate shipment if he didn't leave the scene immediately. He was real suprised to find out our conversation was going out over the air....
But in general, *Yes* is the answer to your question. Works in California and Illinois, where the locals *think* there are no lawful permits to carry concealed operative in their states.
-archy-/-
Boy, that's a stretch! How can you "attempt" to conceal a weapon? Either it's concealed or it isn't. It's not like attempted murder where you could miss a vital spot.
Sounds like the lunatics are running the asylum.
In Wisconsin we're protected by a state law and constitutional amendment that prevents local ordinance from being more restrictive than the state. While engaging in this battle and letter writing campaign, encourage everybody to include their state representatives and senators, encouraging state legislation or amendment. Our state constitutional amendment really got legs when they were talking this kind of nonsense in Milwaukee and the People's Republik of Madison. It passed in referendum by 70+%. The rural hunting tradition and the upholders of the constitution won handily. Best of luck.
There's a pretty interesting one in Virginia, but in general see anything filed under the civil suit provisions of the Civil Rights Act, Title 42 US Code Sections 1983, 1985, 1986 and 1988 in particular. See also Title 18 USC Sections 1962 and 1964 et seq. If that's not specific enough for you, wait until Monday and let me know- I've got access to an entire federal depository and law school library just filled with shelves of precedent of all sorts- the trick, of course, is in picking the right ones.
I'm not an attorney nor in Nebraska, but I wouldn't be surprised if I can light a few fires under a couple of those who are. Are you in Lincoln and an aggrevied party, a victim of this criminal activity against your rights as an American?
-archty-/-
Ironically, Svoboda means freedom in Slavic languages.
19. Attempting any felony OR any of the above misdemeanors.
This is how the gun banners hope to stamp out the shooting culture in America, by criminalizing so many aspects of taking kids shooting that no one will risk teaching safe firearms practices and marksmanship to the next generation.
Thus is bred a nation of slaves, "Sheeple Nation."
This is called "the ratchet effect".
Once the hand cuffs go on, they only get tighter, it only goes one way.
Time to shovel out the stables.
Crazy isn't it. We are supposedly conservative here but are at the mercy of liberal type laws. It makes no sense.
This is called "the ratchet effect".
Once the hand cuffs go on, they only get tighter, it only goes one way.
Your exactly right. This "ratchet effect" will be the death of our rights if we let it. Once this stuff gets passed it never usually gets repealed. Thanks for posting. I can't wait to check out your book.
What is lincoln's stance on fireworks?
Precisely, but we need not *ignore* the laws- once they have been so abrogated, the constitutional contract between government and governed is thereby dissolved without further process, and any laws derived thereby are also moot and without any real moral authority or backing- and Article II of the Constitution is just as meaningless as the Second Amendment- and the authority and offices under that Article are equally null and void.
Finland suffered similar difficulties between the pro-communists and *white* forces during their 1918 Civil War. It is not difficult to foresee something similar here in the near future, but note that once the Constitution is abandoned, it cannot be repaired or replaced by simply patching over the flaw that caused its initial disintegration.
As for how former Marines as yourself might fare in such a post-constitutional aftermath, see Robert Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers.
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