New Poll Shows Nebraska Voters Overwhelmingly Support Extreme Risk Legislation

New Poll Shows 80% of Nebraska Voters – Including 74% of Gun Owners – Support Extreme Risk Protection Policies Like LB 58, Which Just Passed the Nebraska Judiciary Committee

52% of Nebraska voters said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate that supported Extreme Risk legislation

OMAHA – Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and the Nebraska chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America today released polling conducted by SurveyUSA on behalf of Everytown showing that 80% of voters in Nebraska – including 74% of gun owners and 75% of Republicans – support Extreme Risk legislation that would allow a family member or a law enforcement officer to ask a judge to temporarily suspend a person’s access to guns if they have evidence that the person poses a significant risk to themselves or others. Last week, the Nebraska Judiciary Committee voted to advance LB 58, extreme risk protection order legislation. The bill will need to gain priority status in order to guarantee a Senate floor debate.

The survey also showed that 52% of Nebraska voters said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate that supported Extreme Risk legislation.

“It’s never been clearer: Nebraskans overwhelmingly support extreme risk protection legislation,” said Megan Gentrup, a volunteer with the Nebraska chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. “LB 58 would help Nebraska prevent gun suicides and make our families, friends, and communities safer by helping to temporarily keep guns out of the hands of people who pose a risk to themselves or others. It is a common-sense policy that saves lives. Senators should stand with the majority of Nebraskans and act quickly to pass this law.” 

Here’s what to know about extreme risk policies: 

• 80% of Nebraska voters – including 74% of gun owners – support Extreme Risk legislation that would allow a family members or a law enforcement officer to ask a judge to temporarily suspend a person’s access to guns if they have evidence that the person poses a significant risk to themselves or others.
• 17 states and the District of Columbia have enacted extreme risk laws, or red flag laws, including the neighboring state of Colorado.
• Extreme risk laws have been proven to save lives. They empower loved ones or law enforcement officers to intervene in order to temporarily prevent someone in crisis from accessing firearms.
• Extreme risk laws have been shown to be an effective tool in preventing gun suicides. In the last decade, gun suicides have increased 20 percent in Nebraska. In an average year, 70.8% of all gun deaths in Nebraska are suicides. In Nebraska, an average of 15 children and teens die by guns every year, and 59% of these deaths are suicide.
• Extreme risk laws are one of the most powerful tools for preventing mass shootings and school shootings by providing a way to act before warning signs escalate into tragedies. Like many mass shooters, the 19-year-old suspected of shooting and killing 17 people and injuring 17 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland displayed warning signs prior to the shooting. Examples of real-life applications of Extreme Risk laws are available here.
• Statistics about gun violence in Nebraska are available here, and information on how Nebraska’s gun laws compare to other states’ overall is available here. More information on Extreme Risk laws is available here.

If you have questions, or to request an interview with a volunteer from Nebraska Moms Demand Action, please don’t hesitate to reach out.