{"id":35704,"date":"2024-02-23T09:25:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T15:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=35704"},"modified":"2024-02-23T09:34:59","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T15:34:59","slug":"bill-would-eliminate-handgun-purchase-certificate-change-background-check-requirements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=35704","title":{"rendered":"Bill would eliminate handgun purchase certificate, change background check requirements"},"content":{"rendered":"

A measure that would remove a provision in state law that requires a county-issued certificate to purchase a handgun in Nebraska was considered Feb. 22 by the Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Tom Brewer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gordon Sen. Tom Brewer, sponsor of LB883, said the bill was brought to him by the Nebraska State Patrol to bring the state in line with the rest of the country.<\/p>\n

Brewer said that under current law, county sheriff\u2019s offices are required to perform a background check before issuing the certificate, which is valid for three years and can be used during that time to purchase handguns in lieu of a background check at the point of sale. One problem with the current system is the three-year timeframe, he said.<\/p>\n

If a certificate holder commits a crime or is the subject of a protection order \u2013 or any other circumstance that would disqualify them from purchasing a handgun \u2013 before the certificate expires, Brewer said, there is no process for law enforcement to be notified and to rescind the certificate.<\/p>\n

Instead of the current system, LB883 would harmonize the requirement to purchase a handgun with the state\u2019s requirements for long guns and shotguns, which require a background check for every retail purchase at the point of sale through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to clean that up so it\u2019s safer for everyone involved, so that you don\u2019t have people fall through the cracks,\u201d Brewer said.<\/p>\n

He added that the $5 certificate fee is not enough to cover the cost to counties to perform a background check and issue the certificate.<\/p>\n

Kelsey Remmers, who manages the NICS program for the Nebraska State Patrol, testified in favor of the bill on behalf of the NSP. She said LB883 would enhance public safety by requiring a NICS query for any handgun purchased. Nebraska currently is the only state in the country with a separate, state-level background check for handgun purchases that allows a permit to be used instead of a NICS background check to purchase a handgun, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis [bill] would increase the [number] of background checks occurring at the time of purchase, which is important because firearm-prohibiting information continues to be updated and\/or entered into federal databases daily,\u201d Remmers said. \u201cConfirming eligibility regularly utilizing a NICS background check is in the best interest of public safety and is paramount in the effort to ensure firearms stay out of the hands of prohibited individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Testifying in opposition was Sharon O\u2019Neal of Lincoln, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action. If the current certificate program is an unfunded mandate on counties, she said, the solution would be to fund the system adequately, not to discontinue the certificate process \u2013 especially at a time when gun homicides and suicides continue to rise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge you not to reduce our gun safety laws,\u201d O\u2019Neal said.<\/p>\n

Chief Deputy William Rinn of the Douglas County Sheriff\u2019s Department offered neutral testimony on LB883. He agreed that three years is too long for the current handgun purchase certificate to be in effect, and acknowledged that not all county sheriff\u2019s offices have the resources that Douglas County enjoys. On the other hand, Rinn said, his office has at times caught information missed in a NICS search that disqualified individuals from purchasing a handgun.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NICS process is not perfect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on the proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A measure that would remove a provision in state law that requires a county-issued certificate to purchase a handgun in Nebraska was considered Feb. 22 by the Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[174],"class_list":["post-35704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judiciary","tag-sen-tom-brewer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35704"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35713,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35704\/revisions\/35713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}