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Dog shoots woman with shotgun at Nebraska convenience store (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world
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[–] 4 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

Just want to chime in and say that, as best I can tell, in Nebraska, vehicular gun mounts/racks are legal, I cannot find any law specifically mandating or banning or regulating them, beyond uh...

https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=28-1204.04

Which says that if you're in a school zone, your vehicular gun must be unloaded and in a locked gun mount within the vehicle.

The most relevant law I can find says that shotguns in a vehicle can't be loaded, while said vehicle is on the highway.

https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=37-522

Class III Misdemeanor.

There does not appear to be a law that just says 'any gun in a vehicle must be unloaded', full stop.

So... if the driver was never on the highway...

No actual crime, as far as I can tell.

Maybe I missed something?

https://giffords.org/lawcenter/state-laws/guns-in-vehicles-in-nebraska/

(Not that I think that is any kind of a sane approach to gun law, nor was this a sane demonstration of gun handling practices... just trying to lay out the facts as best as I can.)

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  • [–] 7 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

    Note that "highway" in US state law contexts is generally a legal term of art that more or less boils down to meaning "public road." They don't mean highway as in like specifically interstates with on and off ramps.

    The intent is that you can bounce around dirt roads on your own farm or private property or possibly on game lands with your gun loaded dangling in your rear window, but not on public roads with other people on them.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago* (1 child)

    Thats true, that is an important technicality.

    From what I understand of various states road laws and... basically dialects... 'freeway' and 'highway' technically mean slightly different things, by state, and sometimes literally by county or city.

    So... yeah. I'm not from Nebraska, you might be right.

    But the... intent, that you're ascribing, to the law... I mean thats a factor in how a judge would rule, but... the actual texts of the relevant laws are factors as well.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Not to worry, Nebraska (and most/all other states) has this definition codified into law:

    https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=60-624

    You are correct that "freeway" or more likely some variation of "controlled access freeway" will have a separate legal definition that is closer to what normal people probably think of when they hear the word "highway."

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Ah shit ok, you're right then, this 'highway' is pretty much just 'any publicly maintained road' in Nebrasaka.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 child)

    Not just Nebraska but most, possibly all, US states. From what I've seen, anyhow. Hence my note about it being a term of art. In the law books it doesn't mean the same thing normal people think it ought to mean.

    (Same thing with "assault," incidentally.)

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago

    Well shit, TIL.

    Genuienly thank you for the uh... legal education, I guess you'd say.

    Maybe its just that the state I am from is particularly weird about this, or maybe I just had an unfounded notion.

    Either way, always appreciate being less wrong.

    And yeah woooey assault is not what most people think it is, either as a crime in and of itself, or, as a descriptor of a class of weapons.

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