Nebraska is a weird state politically, in part because they have only one chamber to their legislature. Everyone else has two, which is strange.
They're also a heavily rural state, with a strong history of voting Republican, a supermajority in their one legislative chamber, and a strong base of support for the Second Amendment among most residents there.
Just the same, they voted to ban guns from the state capitol. It's bizarre and dumb, but they did it anyway.
In the process, they limited entrance to the Capitol to just one point of entry. This is likely a security thing, as it's easier to control who comes in and out when there's only one place for them to go, and it makes things like metal detectors cheaper, as you don't need a dozen of them.
But with all things, the Law of Unintended Consequences just laughs.
That change has some advocates in the disability community concerned.
“I want to be there. I have a right to be there,” said Kathy Hoell.
Hoell, of Papillion, uses a power wheelchair to get around — something she says is hard enough to do at the Capitol on a normal day.
But these new changes coming to the Capitol, in her words, make her “angry, to put it mildly.”
“They are fighting us every step of the way, trying to get the Capitol, which belongs to the citizens of Nebraska, to be inclusive of all citizens,” Hoell said.
She added there are accommodation issues already.
“I have to take the freight elevator because I can’t even take the regular elevator,” she said.
Benson Wallace, general counsel to the Nebraska Legislature’s Executive Committee, said much of the decision-making will be up to the Nebraska State Patrol.
The Executive Committee introduced LB 1237, and it was passed on final reading by a 45-4 vote.
The bill’s fiscal note indicates Capitol staff and senators would be able to use any entrance by scanning a security badge and would not need screening. The estimated cost for Fiscal Year 2026-27 is $871,419, and $944,164 for FY 2027-28.
Cost of constructing an ADA-accessible entrance is not included in that estimate.
Honestly, it's kind of stupid not to consider the ADA accessibility issue from the jump. That's an obvious thing, and it while they're busy making sure senators and staff can come and go as they please from any point that they please, they failed to consider that people with disabilities might actually want to take part in the political process.
Kind of makes you wonder what other short-sighted stupidity was involved.
Other than this, and the banning of lawfully carried firearms.
Of course, this will likely get resolved in short order, and the disability advocates will go away at least somewhat satisfied.
Those who exercise their right to keep and bear arms, however, won't, and for what? It's not like senators and their staff will somehow be safer since they still have to leave the building, and anyone who wants to hurt them probably won't blink at waiting.
It just seems clear that this was poorly thought out, and I promise you that this one obvious aspect they failed to consider won't be the last of it.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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