A lot of responsibility comes with concealed carry permit

    Instructors with Nebraska Shooters trained 11 individuals from Imperial, Lamar and Wauneta on all aspects of handgun use, safety and laws during a concealed carry class Saturday.
    The event was sponsored by the Imperial Jaycees and the classroom work was completed at the Jaycee Hall.
    Instructors James McChesney, Colten Chandler and Mike Mosel, all of Ogallala, taught the class which included live-fire range training.
    All class members successfully completed the written and practical tests which now makes them eligible to apply for a concealed carry permit.
Over the past several years, a number of concealed carry classes have been taught in Imperial.
    In 2006, the Nebraska Unicameral passed LB 454 creating the Concealed Handgun Permit Act. The law allowing an individual to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun  took effect Jan. 1, 2007.
    The program is administered by the Nebraska State Patrol and application for a permit can only be made at one of the patrol’s six troop headquarters.
    The patrol reviews applications to ensure applicants meet other requirements. Some of these include being 21, being mentally competent, a resident of the state, not having been convicted of a felony or criminal misdemeanor, not on parole, probation or house arrest for any type of offense, and having never committed any firearm violations.
    Instructors informed students that although they may obtain a concealed carry permit, certain regulations must be followed.
    For instance, if officially contacted by a law enforcement officer, a permit holder carrying a concealed handgun must immediately inform the officer  of the concealed handgun.
    State law also prohibits the use of alcohol when carrying a concealed handgun.
    A permit does not allow the holder to conceal a handgun at any school, hospital, courthouse, courtroom, banks or places of worship.
    A permit holder in the public parking lot of one of these entities is not in violation if the gun is secured inside the vehicle.
    State statutes require the gun to be locked in the vehicle’s trunk or in a locked storage box attached to the vehicle.  
    A concealed carry permit requires the holder to completely conceal the handgun when it is on his/her person.
    It’s illegal for a portion of the gun to “peek out” from under clothing. In addition, clothes cannot be so tight that an imprint of the gun can be seen on the clothing.
    In a vehicle, the gun must be on the person or right beside them, such as in the door panel pocket, where it is not accessible to others.
    In addition, some municipalities, such as Lincoln and Omaha, have their own ordinances dealing specifically with concealed carry.
    McChesney advised checking those ordinances before taking a conceal weapon into the metro areas.
Nebraska—open carry state
    While the Bill of Rights give citizens the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, the Article 1 of the Nebraska Constitution spells it out even more specifically:
“ . . . the right to keep and bear arms for security or defense of self, family, home, and others, and for lawful common defense, hunting, recreational use, and all other lawful purposes, and such rights shall not be denied or infringed by the state or any subdivision thereof.”
    Nebraska is an “open carry” state. That means gun owners can openly carry a holstered handgun in public.
    However, the same laws that prohibit concealed carry at various locations, schools, hospitals, etc., also applies to open carry.
    For someone without a concealed carry permit to legally carry a gun in a vehicle, the gun must remain in plain sight at all times.
    If the gun is carried in the trunk or placed somewhere out of sight in the vehicle, it’s now considered as a concealed weapon requiring a permit.
Christensen praised
    With Saturday’s class being in Imperial, McChesney noted that Sen. Mark Christensen of Imperial was an ardent advocate for protecting gun rights of Nebraskans.
    He said people should appreciate the efforts of the former senator pertaining to gun rights.