LB454 a good Law????

In response to a post I made on April 1st, Zendo Deb, a blogger I am proud to have on my Blogroll, left the following comment;

"I'm not sure any bill is better than no bill. Will this make a good law?

It is an excellent question and to answer it I felt a blog entry a much better forum than a response in the comments section.

Realize that this is my opinion and only my opinion.

This will not make good law by todays standards. It might have made good law 15 or 20 years ago. In that light it is not far removed from laws that the various states enacted during those years when CCW was first becoming an issue.

Since that time most, if not all of those states have modified their laws in a positive way by removing restrictions, enacting provisions for reciprocity and easing many of the other stringent requirements that have proven to be unnecessary.

Can and will this pending legislation be modified in years to come? I'm sure it will be, but at what price?

The price is the trust that Nebraska's elected officials do not have in the citizens that they have sworn to serve.

CCW has not been the "bloodshed in the streets", "shootouts for parking spaces" and "road rage incidents" that is was professed it would be. Given that why should the elected officials in the Unicameral subject the citizens to a 20 year old law that has been changed and modified in every other state it has been enacted in?

Why are a lot of states passing laws that lift the alcohol restrictions that they have had for years and Nebraska is passing a law with them in place? Why are other states changing or passing CCW laws with reciprocity or recognition in the bill (Ohio, Missouri) and Nebraska's representitives decline to even discuss it? The list goes on and on, but the point is that a lot of the things mandated in this bill have been a non-issue in the rest of the states and the citizens of Nebraska must be treated like first graders while the rest of the country is already in High School.

I find it amazing that any self respecting adult would willing to lobby for and accept that kind of treatment from people they have elected to represent them. They work for us, we do not answer to them.

The prevailing situation is a large degree of begging by the citizens for the Senators to enact a bill that will not make good law. The duty of a Senator is to vote the will of the people and their personal feelings.

Having said all that;

The problem is that there is just not enough interest in CCW by the citizens of Nebraska to pass a good law. That means that a law like this has to be the starting point. Over a period of time, a large part of the population of Nebraska will aquire a license/permit and they will become more interested in the subject.

This interest will make the citizens aware of the differencess between Nebraska and the other states. Nebraskans, at that point will wake up to the fact that they are under a thumb of oppression not felt in other states. Then and only then will this realization morph into a grassroots effort that it will take to make a silk purse out of the sow's ear that is LB454.

It was with this realization that I, and several other very good people sat before the judiciary committe and testified on behalf of this bill.

Good law? NO, but it is probably the only way to get the ball rolling in a positive direction.

Thank you Deb for your question, I only hope the answer I give does it justice.