(CN) - The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled on Friday that four gun owners have standing to sue the city of Lincoln over several firearm regulations, including a ban on carrying guns on city-owned property like parks.
The four gun owners haven't been arrested. They said they no longer visit city parks and trails, as they once frequently did, for fear of criminal prosecution. Three of them said they carry firearms "100% of the time," while the fourth said he "usually" does.
A state court ruled last year that a Second Amendment group, the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association, which was suing on behalf of its 10,000 members, and the four individual plaintiffs lacked standing to bring a "pre-enforcement action" - that is, to sue the city over a law that hasn't yet been enforced.
The state Supreme Court found that groups and associations do not have the right to sue over pre-enforcement actions, but that individuals do.
"The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that threatened enforcement of a law can be sufficient to create an injury in fact," wrote Chief Justice Jeffrey Funke in the unanimous ruling. "A pre-enforcement challenge to a law may be brought, and the injury-in-fact requirement will be satisfied, if an appellant carries the burden of showing that the appellant faces a credible threat of future enforcement, which is sufficiently imminent."
The ruling means that the case now goes back to the lower court, where it can proceed on its merits.
"Fundamentally, what the case is about is state government being able to pass law that has supremacy over local government," said Ryan Morrison of the Liberty Justice Center, who's representing the gun owners. "This is really about standing up for state government being able to pass these laws."
When asked what impact the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association being removed from the case would have, Morrison responded: "Other than how much room we need to have at the counsel's table, nothing."
In a written statement, a spokesperson for the city of Lincoln said its top priority is protecting municipal employees and community members while on public property.
"Following today's Nebraska Supreme Court decision on standing, we will be ready, if necessary, to demonstrate our case on the merits in district court," the Lincoln spokesperson said.
In 2023, the Nebraska Legislature passed "Constitutional Carry," which legalized the concealed carry of firearms without a permit. The mayors of Nebraska's two largest cities, Lincoln and Omaha, responded by banning weapons across parks, municipal buildings and trails.
The Nebraska Firearms Owners Association sued both cities, arguing that the local ordinances were superseded by state law. In February 2024, Lancaster County District Court Judge Andrew R. Jacobsen tossed the Lincoln case, finding the plaintiffs had been unable to prove they had or will suffer an injury due to the ordinance. He did not rule on the merits. In the Omaha case, a different judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the law that remains in effect.
The Nebraska Supreme Court also found that the four gun owners had standing to sue over Lincoln's ban on the possession of switchblade knives and "multiburst trigger activator[s]," attachments that enable guns to fire two or more shots with one squeeze of the trigger. However, the high court determined that the plaintiffs did not have standing to sue over a ban on keeping guns in unoccupied vehicles, unless the vehicle is locked and the firearm is not visible from the outside.
Source: Courthouse News Service
