Council rejects gun ban
The Lincoln City Council on Monday shot down Mayor Coleen Seng’s proposal to ban concealed weapons in the city once a new state law takes effect next year.
The item was not on the council’s agenda but was on the pending list and expected to be scheduled for a public hearing July 31.
But Councilman Jon Camp made a motion to consider the issue, and the council voted 5-2 to kill the proposal.
Camp said he had talked to other council members and “sensed enough support today to do it.”
The decision came as a shock to Mayor Coleen Seng and Police Chief Tom Casady.
Seng said that in her 20 years on the council and as mayor, she’s never seen a situation where “we’ve denied the public an opportunity to speak on an issue.
“I’m shocked that the council would do this,” she said.
Casady said he spent the weekend preparing written testimony — something he said he rarely does — for what he thought would be a lengthy, contentious public hearing on the issue.
But now he said he felt like he’s been “cheated out of the opportunity to be heard.”
“I can’t understand for the life of me why at the 11th hour they pulled the rug out from under that opportunity,” he said.
Casady said he’s seen the council spend hours on minutiae in public hearings and can’t understand why they would not at least give people the opportunity to debate the issue.
“I’ve never seen the City Council do this before,” he said.
The proposal could be reintroduced or reconsidered if someone from the winning side asked that it be.
Seng cannot veto the decision, though, according to City Attorney Dana Roper.
Joining Camp in voting to kill the proposal were Ken Svoboda, Patte Newman, Annette McRoy and Robin Eschliman.
Dan Marvin and Jonathan Cook voted no.
The item was not on the council’s agenda but was on the pending list and expected to be scheduled for a public hearing July 31.
But Councilman Jon Camp made a motion to consider the issue, and the council voted 5-2 to kill the proposal.
Camp said he had talked to other council members and “sensed enough support today to do it.”
The decision came as a shock to Mayor Coleen Seng and Police Chief Tom Casady.
Seng said that in her 20 years on the council and as mayor, she’s never seen a situation where “we’ve denied the public an opportunity to speak on an issue.
“I’m shocked that the council would do this,” she said.
Casady said he spent the weekend preparing written testimony — something he said he rarely does — for what he thought would be a lengthy, contentious public hearing on the issue.
But now he said he felt like he’s been “cheated out of the opportunity to be heard.”
“I can’t understand for the life of me why at the 11th hour they pulled the rug out from under that opportunity,” he said.
Casady said he’s seen the council spend hours on minutiae in public hearings and can’t understand why they would not at least give people the opportunity to debate the issue.
“I’ve never seen the City Council do this before,” he said.
The proposal could be reintroduced or reconsidered if someone from the winning side asked that it be.
Seng cannot veto the decision, though, according to City Attorney Dana Roper.
Joining Camp in voting to kill the proposal were Ken Svoboda, Patte Newman, Annette McRoy and Robin Eschliman.
Dan Marvin and Jonathan Cook voted no.
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