NE lawmakers to consider ‘stand your ground’ gun law

• Nebraska is considering enacting a “stand your ground” bill and is one of the last states to introduce a Republican-led bill.
• State Sen. Brian Hardin has introduced a bill that would prevent the prosecution of residents who use deadly force in self-defense.
• Currently, Nebraska law requires people to retreat from a threat before resorting to deadly force, except in the home or workplace.

Nebraska would be one of the last Republican-led states to enact so-called “stand your ground” laws under a bill introduced in a legislative committee Thursday.

State Sen. Brian Hardin, R-Scottsbluff, said the bill is at the urging of voters to protect residents who use deadly force to protect themselves from prosecution.

“This bill will ensure that people who have already been victims of crime become criminals again,” Hardin said. “It must be difficult to put someone in jail who was defending themselves.”

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Nebraska is one of the few states where the law requires people to retreat from a threat if it is safe to do so before using deadly force, except in the home or workplace. Thirty-eight states support your basic law, including all six of Nebraska’s neighboring states.

The concept came under national scrutiny in 2012 after Trayvon Martin, a black teenager from Florida, was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer who was following him. Volunteer George Zimmerman was later acquitted after a trial in which his lawyers essentially used the law as a defense.

Critics have dubbed the bill a “first fire” law, saying it would make it easier for people to shoot someone and avoid prosecution by claiming they felt threatened. Some prosecutors have complained that the law makes it increasingly burdensome for defendants to prove they were not acting in self-defense by claiming ground defense.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine, the top prosecutor in Nebraska’s most populous county, was the first of several people to testify against Hardin’s bill Thursday, and the state’s He said current law already grants discretionary powers to people under threat of imminent harm.

“Of course, if someone points a gun at you, you don’t even have to think about it,” he said. “Of course you can protect yourself. I don’t think this law reform is necessary.”

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Several people and groups testified in favor of the bill, including the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association and Women for Gun Rights, while others have been asked to uphold the law across the country over the past decade. It opposed the bill, citing several high-profile cases. question. These include the 2020 shooting death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia and the shooting death of 17-year-old Ralph Yahr in Kansas City, Missouri, last year.

The two black men were going about their daily errands — Mr. Arbery was jogging and Mr. Jarl was knocking on the door of a home where his brother was believed to be visiting — when they were shot by a white man. However, the white man later claimed that he fired the gun because he feared for his safety.

Nebraska’s bill comes at a time when Republican-led state legislatures across the country are passing legislation expanding gun rights. Last year, the Nebraska Legislature passed a bill allowing residents to carry concealed guns without a permit. Under so-called “constitutional carry” laws, people can carry concealed guns on their clothing or in their vehicles without paying a government permit fee or taking gun safety classes.