Omaha police to update policy amid 'confusion' over Nebraska gun laws
Omaha police Executive Deputy Chief Scott Gray said some believe they don't have to declare their firearm to police under the permitless concealed carry law that went into effect in 2023. The "duty to inform" police of a firearm is still in place, he said, though some may not understand because there is a "patchwork" of laws on the issue across the states.Gray said "quite a few" have been arrested because they did not understand the law.The department will put in policy that officers will ask if there's a firearm in the car at the beginning of a traffic stop. Some officers may have already been asking the question regularly."Just to get it out of the way early," said Omaha police Officer Mathiew Perales, who is assigned to the training center.Anecdotally, police say officers encounter armed individuals, both law-abiding and not, more often than they did before Legislative Bill 77 passed in the unicameral in 2023.In addition to always asking if there's a firearm in the vehicle, the department also plans to collect more information from officers after traffic stops, including whether there were firearms in the vehicle.Omaha Mayor John Ewing Jr. told media gathered Monday that he met with police leadership about the changes. He said he's heard the "confusion" on whether there's a requirement to inform police about a firearm.Ewing, like his predecessor Jean Stothert, said he believed there should have been an exception in the law for Nebraska's largest cities, in the interest of officer safety.Gray said the change is not because of any one incident. This fall, police pulled over Terrance "Bud" Crawford in the hours after his championship parade, and ordered Crawford and his security team out of the car at gunpoint.A member of Crawford's security team told KETV in an interview that they did declare the guns.
