‘We can be louder than a gunshot’: Nebraska students rally for tighter gun laws
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – A group of students and parents met outside the Capitol on Thursday to hold a rally calling for gun control in Nebraska.
Speakers at the rally said lawmakers have failed to protect them from gun violence and asked Nebraska’s senators to do more.
Guns are now the leading cause of death in children and teens in the U.S., according to the CDC.
And Sen. Jane Raybould said rather than tightening restrictions, lawmakers in Nebraska are only making it easier to access weapons.
“We’re going in the completely wrong direction,” she said. “We know that states that have stricter gun laws, particularly with concealed carry, have fewer gun deaths. The United States doesn’t have any more mental health issues and problematic population than any other country on Earth. What do we have? We have more guns.”
This comes just days after a Lincoln high schooler was killed in a shooting at a house party that police say was attended by dozens of other high school-aged people.
It also follows last week’s mass shooting at a Nashville school, where six people were killed, including three children.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, in an average year, guns kill 196 people in Nebraska.
Nationwide, data show that more than 4,300 kids were killed by guns in 2020 alone.
The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that the U.S. is also the only country among its peers that’s seen a substantial increase in the rate of child firearm deaths in the last 20 years.
The Nebraska chapters of Students Demand Action and Moms Demand Action organized Thursday’s demonstration.
A number of parents and children shared stories of how gun violence has affected their lives, including 10-year-old Norah Hodge.
“There are things we can do to encourage lawmakers to make better decisions,” the fifth grader said. “We can show up to more rallies. We can write letters to our lawmakers. We can be louder than a gunshot.”
Another fifth grader at the rally, Bryn, said solutions like arming school staff haven’t prevented shootings from happening.
“I shouldn’t be scared to go to school,” she said. “Neither should my classmates, kids in other grades and even adults. Guns have killed so many people, yet we are still letting 18-year-olds have them. Enough is enough. Protect kids and not guns.”
One of the focuses of the rally was Legislative Bill 77, Sen. Tom Brewer’s permitless concealed carry bill.
It would allow people to have a hidden and loaded handgun on them in public, without needing to take a safety training course.
SEE ALSO: A day after Nashville shooting, Nebraska senators advance permitless concealed carry
Brewer said his proposal would only allow for people to conceal their weapons, not make it easier to buy a gun.
“Right now, it is the law of the land in Nebraska to be able to open carry,” he said. “All LB 77 does is let you conceal carry that same firearm and not be under penalty of law for it. This bill doesn’t address more guns, less guns. It just gives certain rights to people that are constitutional rights.”
He said requirements for background checks and restrictions on where you can take a weapon would not change.
Gun rights advocates also said there are other solutions to stopping shootings, like adding more school resource officers and arming staff to stop a shooter before police even arrive.
Patricia Harrold, president of the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association, said schools in other states have adopted these types of programs and haven’t had any shootings or gun accidents.
“There are thousands of citizens right now in our state carrying concealed firearms all the time,” she said. “And that’s not causing any undue fear. Participants who take this training and choose to become a defender for the school campus do so in such a way that no one knows who’s carrying and who isn’t.”
LB 77 is currently in the third round of debate. If it passes there, it will go to Gov. Jim Pillen for his signature.
