Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
And you may have seen it toofrom the sheriff on Facebook about a loophole
in Nebraska's handgun permitting. Well thatI wasn't aware of, Sheriff, good
morning, Good to have you on. Good morning. Whenever we have a
high profile tragedy involving shooting in thenews, and we always ask the question,
(00:21):
how do we keep firearms out ofthe hands of people who are dangerously
mentally ill, which is often thecase in these shootings. And you point
out, at least here in Nebraskayou have to or Douglas County evidence,
some evidence of mental illness is notenough to deny a handgun permit, right,
(00:45):
Yeah, that's right, you know, And I think if you look
back, probably pretty safe to saythat the vast majority, if not all,
of the high profile mass shootings orassassination attempts that we see usually you
follow back and you say, Okay, that person clearly showed warning signs of
being pretty severely mentally ill, andnothing happened. And so, you know,
(01:07):
you hear the calls from all sidesof the political spectrum and they say,
geez, how did this guy geta gun? I mean, they're
clearly mentally ill. Everyone knew it. Howd they get a gun? Well,
let me tell you. First ofall, I got to give you
a couple foundational things for everyone tounderstand. Nebraska, if you want to
acquire a handgun, unless you havea concealed carry permit, or unless you
want to transfer it to someone inyour immediate family, you have to come
(01:30):
to your local sheriff's office and youhave to apply for a handgum purchase permit.
And when that happens, they checkyour background, they see if there's
any state or federal prohibitors. Onefederal prohibitor, it's not a state prohibitor,
but one federal prohibitor is if youhad been adjudicated as mentally unfit and
placed in a mental institution against yourwill. And a lot of times people
(01:51):
think, hey, that's a safecatch all. Fortunately it's not so.
In Nebraska, we really have twoways for the government to intercede on someone's
mental health condition. An emergency protectivecustody it's an EPC, and a Border
Mental Health Action a BMH. NowBMH is an off suit of the district
court. They can actually bring inon a warrant. They can put you
(02:12):
in a mental health care institution againstyour will, and if they do that,
then you're rendered a prohibited person.But the vast majority of individuals struggling
with mental health go through the EPCprocess, and that's where a police officer
a doctor determines your real time riskto yourself or others. You're placed in
an er in most cases so youcan be assessed and normally you're going to
be released within twenty four more likelytwelve hours because of ours don't want you
(02:38):
there. If you go through theEPC process, you're not rendered prohibited and
thus opens the door to the loopholethat we're experiencing that I talked about in
the sheriff's Facebook. Yeah, andyou laid out two examples of the sheriff
looking at the application and seeing inone case, multiple incidents of a mental
(03:00):
high health issues and attempt at suicidesand you still had to issue the permit.
What is the solution to this?I assume it starts with the legislature.
Yeah, it's going to have tobe a legislative solution through the state
level. But I really believe thatour second amendmic community, you know,
ninety nine percent of which do notfall into this category, probably ninety nine
(03:20):
percent plus. We need their involvement, their engagement they're buying. So let
me give you a couple example.Talk about the two guys on the Facebook
page. One male had just triedto commit suicide within the last thirty days.
A female had thirteen suicide twelve suicideattempts. We had to give them
handgum purchase permits. But it getsworse. Earlier in twenty twenty three,
we had to give two handgum purchasepermits to two individuals with tons of red
(03:43):
flags but no prohibitors. One ofthem took the gun that he acquired and
killed his mom and his sister,and the other one shot an innocent woman
on the Keystone Trail with the gunthat he got with the handgun purchase permit.
And again, here's my message topolicy makers in the two A community,
which I am one of, cherishyour Second Amendment rights and if you
(04:05):
do, we have to find away to close this gap. And that
doesn't mean we do red flag laws. We have to use the facts in
front of us. When people areplaced in EPC multiple times, I think
we need to take it to ahigher level to have them render evidence by
their mental health professional that they're safeto have a firearm. Now, does
(04:26):
that mean we render them prohibited forever? No? But I think this is
one of the biggest risks to ourSecond Amendment because again, almost one hundred
percent of the people doing these highprofile gun crimes are typically of a history
of mental illness that does not rendertheir prohibited. Are you saying pushback by
the two A community on this side, I don't think so, honestly.
(04:46):
I you know, when I havesit down conversations with people in the two
A community, the vast majority agreewith me. It's only the really staunch
black and white libertarians that you know, they'll they'll win at it a little
bit, but even they will acquiesce. And I think people are concerned.
You don't want to have your gunrights taken away just because you have depression
or post traumatic stress disorder. AndI'm not advocating for that. That can
(05:11):
be treated, that can be managed. It's the folks that are not getting
these conditions trees that you're managed.I think we need to hone in on.
Do I know what the final answeris, No, but it's probably
something close to Florida's Baker Act.Florida is a very conservative progum state as
well. Let's look at what's workingelsewhere and find a Nebraska solution and preserve
our chair Second Amendment rights so thatwe can protect ourselves and our families without
(05:36):
having to worry about a future Senate, a future Supreme Court restricting it based
on the actions of a small few. Indeed, well Sheriff that we're doing
a special session on issues unrelated tothat, but when they get back to
it, the winner, let's talkagain and see if we've got any senators
willing to step up on that issue. That's Sheriff Aaron Hanson, Uglas County
(06:00):
here on kfab's morning News
And you may have seen it toofrom the sheriff on Facebook about a loophole
in Nebraska's handgun permitting. Well thatI wasn't aware of, Sheriff, good
morning, Good to have you on. Good morning. Whenever we have a
high profile tragedy involving shooting in thenews, and we always ask the question,
(00:21):
how do we keep firearms out ofthe hands of people who are dangerously
mentally ill, which is often thecase in these shootings. And you point
out, at least here in Nebraskayou have to or Douglas County evidence,
some evidence of mental illness is notenough to deny a handgun permit, right,
(00:45):
Yeah, that's right, you know, And I think if you look
back, probably pretty safe to saythat the vast majority, if not all,
of the high profile mass shootings orassassination attempts that we see usually you
follow back and you say, Okay, that person clearly showed warning signs of
being pretty severely mentally ill, andnothing happened. And so, you know,
(01:07):
you hear the calls from all sidesof the political spectrum and they say,
geez, how did this guy geta gun? I mean, they're
clearly mentally ill. Everyone knew it. Howd they get a gun? Well,
let me tell you. First ofall, I got to give you
a couple foundational things for everyone tounderstand. Nebraska, if you want to
acquire a handgun, unless you havea concealed carry permit, or unless you
want to transfer it to someone inyour immediate family, you have to come
(01:30):
to your local sheriff's office and youhave to apply for a handgum purchase permit.
And when that happens, they checkyour background, they see if there's
any state or federal prohibitors. Onefederal prohibitor, it's not a state prohibitor,
but one federal prohibitor is if youhad been adjudicated as mentally unfit and
placed in a mental institution against yourwill. And a lot of times people
(01:51):
think, hey, that's a safecatch all. Fortunately it's not so.
In Nebraska, we really have twoways for the government to intercede on someone's
mental health condition. An emergency protectivecustody it's an EPC, and a Border
Mental Health Action a BMH. NowBMH is an off suit of the district
court. They can actually bring inon a warrant. They can put you
(02:12):
in a mental health care institution againstyour will, and if they do that,
then you're rendered a prohibited person.But the vast majority of individuals struggling
with mental health go through the EPCprocess, and that's where a police officer
a doctor determines your real time riskto yourself or others. You're placed in
an er in most cases so youcan be assessed and normally you're going to
be released within twenty four more likelytwelve hours because of ours don't want you
(02:38):
there. If you go through theEPC process, you're not rendered prohibited and
thus opens the door to the loopholethat we're experiencing that I talked about in
the sheriff's Facebook. Yeah, andyou laid out two examples of the sheriff
looking at the application and seeing inone case, multiple incidents of a mental
(03:00):
high health issues and attempt at suicidesand you still had to issue the permit.
What is the solution to this?I assume it starts with the legislature.
Yeah, it's going to have tobe a legislative solution through the state
level. But I really believe thatour second amendmic community, you know,
ninety nine percent of which do notfall into this category, probably ninety nine
(03:20):
percent plus. We need their involvement, their engagement they're buying. So let
me give you a couple example.Talk about the two guys on the Facebook
page. One male had just triedto commit suicide within the last thirty days.
A female had thirteen suicide twelve suicideattempts. We had to give them
handgum purchase permits. But it getsworse. Earlier in twenty twenty three,
we had to give two handgum purchasepermits to two individuals with tons of red
(03:43):
flags but no prohibitors. One ofthem took the gun that he acquired and
killed his mom and his sister,and the other one shot an innocent woman
on the Keystone Trail with the gunthat he got with the handgun purchase permit.
And again, here's my message topolicy makers in the two A community,
which I am one of, cherishyour Second Amendment rights and if you
(04:05):
do, we have to find away to close this gap. And that
doesn't mean we do red flag laws. We have to use the facts in
front of us. When people areplaced in EPC multiple times, I think
we need to take it to ahigher level to have them render evidence by
their mental health professional that they're safeto have a firearm. Now, does
(04:26):
that mean we render them prohibited forever? No? But I think this is
one of the biggest risks to ourSecond Amendment because again, almost one hundred
percent of the people doing these highprofile gun crimes are typically of a history
of mental illness that does not rendertheir prohibited. Are you saying pushback by
the two A community on this side, I don't think so, honestly.
(04:46):
I you know, when I havesit down conversations with people in the two
A community, the vast majority agreewith me. It's only the really staunch
black and white libertarians that you know, they'll they'll win at it a little
bit, but even they will acquiesce. And I think people are concerned.
You don't want to have your gunrights taken away just because you have depression
or post traumatic stress disorder. AndI'm not advocating for that. That can
(05:11):
be treated, that can be managed. It's the folks that are not getting
these conditions trees that you're managed.I think we need to hone in on.
Do I know what the final answeris, No, but it's probably
something close to Florida's Baker Act.Florida is a very conservative progum state as
well. Let's look at what's workingelsewhere and find a Nebraska solution and preserve
our chair Second Amendment rights so thatwe can protect ourselves and our families without
(05:36):
having to worry about a future Senate, a future Supreme Court restricting it based
on the actions of a small few. Indeed, well Sheriff that we're doing
a special session on issues unrelated tothat, but when they get back to
it, the winner, let's talkagain and see if we've got any senators
willing to step up on that issue. That's Sheriff Aaron Hanson, Uglas County
(06:00):
here on kfab's morning News
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