I support Mayor Coleen Seng’s proposal to limit concealed handguns in Lincoln because more guns will mean more problems in our community.

Our police officers, surveyed about this issue by a co-worker, Sgt. Jim Davidsaver, as part of his graduate research, responded overwhelmingly (85 percent) that concealed carry was unnecessary and made things less safe. It was the new trainees who were most inclined to support concealed carry. I think our recruits had not yet had the experience of their senior colleagues.

Police officers not only deal with the very worst people, they also deal with good people at their very worst moments, when judgment and clarity are overwhelmed by emotion. We’ve all handled the personal crises of fundamentally decent citizens who were momentarily acting poorly. Concealed carry in Texas is the perfect example: the Department of Public Safety reports 5,319 arrests of concealed carry permit holders in the first 5½ years. That’s what worries us: we’ve seen some bad behavior from the best people, and we function in an uncertain environment where we cannot readily tell who is all right from who is not.

Officers were skeptical of concealed carry even when they were exposed in advance to the key findings of John Lott’s widely touted research that claims in its title “More Guns, Less Crime.” Maybe police officers intuitively understand that research does not always reflect reality and that those who conduct research sometimes have more than a passing interest in the outcome.

I have followed the debate for nearly 20 years. Many studies refute Lott’s findings, pointing to a falling crime rate nationwide. Between 1999 and 2004, violent crime in Nebraska fell from 7,172 offenses to 5,302, a 35 percent decrease over five years without a concealed carry law. I believe the research is all over the board, proving nothing but the obvious: Concealed carry doesn’t have any significant impact on crime rates one way or the other.

Carrying a handgun, though, is a risky business. There will be mishaps, as there have been in all states that have adopted concealed-carry laws. Fortunately, they will be uncommon; hopefully, they will be nonfatal. We see these in Lincoln from time to time now with guns that aren’t concealed. Carrying a pistol under a jacket does not make it safer.

We drill this into our new officers: there is always a gun involved in every incident — your own. Many police officers have been killed with their own weapon. Now we’ll have to be constantly mindful of the fact that more citizens we interact with will be armed — and we won’t know what is in their head or heart.

I know plenty of people (many military veterans and shooting sports enthusiasts) who can carry concealed and not cause me one whit of concern. I’ll take some of them as my backup any day. But I have met other concealed-carry advocates who worry me. The Legislature’s ironic action in prohibiting concealed carry in their own chamber is a tacit acknowledgement that there are a few people who will have concealed carry permits that are downright frightening at times, despite clean criminal records.

One of my biggest concerns about the new law is its gaping loopholes. While it prohibits felons and those convicted of drug crimes or violent crimes from getting permits, there are many serious misdemeanors that are not cause for denial: stalking, violating a protection order, indecent exposure and impersonating a police officer, to name a few. If you’ve been convicted of rolling back an odometer (a felony) you can’t get a permit, but on my desk is the criminal history of a 29-year-old Lincoln man we have arrested for trespassing and exposure on 12 occasions. He will be quite eligible for a concealed-carry permit. Given his primary occupation (window-peeking while masturbating), he probably needs one.

I heard a local radio talk show host opining in support of concealed carry that Candice Harms could have defended herself when she was abducted and murdered back in 1992 by an assailant who impersonated a police officer. I was the Lancaster County sheriff at the time and deeply involved in that investigation. She is engraved on my soul. Had the Legislature’s concealed carry law been in effect at the time, Candy would not have been eligible for a permit. At 18, she was too young.

Her abductor, Roger Bjorklund, on the other hand, would have been eligible; and his accomplice and fellow murderer, Scott Barney — despite a dozen previous arrests by the Lincoln Police Department — also would have been perfectly eligible to receive a Nebraska concealed-handgun permit. That’s something to think about when you’re wondering whether the guy with the lumpy sweatshirt next to you at the movie theater is a “law-abiding” citizen with a concealed carry permit.

Thank God, these stranger attacks are exceptionally rare events. Will concealed handguns prevent them? Unfortunately, it just isn’t that simple. Handguns can and do get turned on their owners; accidents and mistakes really do happen. A Saturday training class and a few trips to the range does not protect the owner from these risks. Cell phones, in my opinion, have done more to protect people than concealed carry — and more to provide peace of mind. Personally, I’m glad my daughter, Kelly, has a Samsung in her purse instead of a Smith & Wesson.

Casady is chief of the Lincoln Police Department.