The legal tug-of-war over where gun owners can carry firearms in Omaha has come to an end. This week, the City of Omaha officially retracted an executive order that sought to ban firearms from all city-owned property, marking a conclusion to a high-profile lawsuit that pitted local leadership against state law and Second Amendment advocates.
The conflict began in late 2023 after Omaha’s mayor issued an executive order prohibiting firearms in various public spaces, including city buildings, parks, sidewalks, and parking lots.
The move was quickly met with a lawsuit filed by the Liberty Justice Center on behalf of the Nebraska Firearms Owners Association. The legal challenge argued that the city’s restrictions flew in the face of Legislative Bill 77, a state law passed earlier that year.
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That legislation established statewide “constitutional carry” and explicitly stripped local municipalities of the power to create their own separate firearm regulations.
Nebraska Attorney General Michael Hilgers had previously weighed in on the matter, issuing an opinion that the city’s broad ban on public spaces like trails and sidewalks was likely unconstitutional. By early 2024, a Douglas County District Court judge had already stepped in to block the city from enforcing the order while the court case moved through the system.
The standoff reached its final chapter on February 24, 2025, when the city formally repealed the executive order. Because the ban no longer exists, a judicial panel recently dismissed the remaining legal challenge as moot.
Despite the resolution in Omaha, the debate over local versus state control remains active in Nebraska.
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“Repealing the carry ban was the right thing. The Second Amendment is not a second class right and law-abiding people should be able to exercise it to the fullest,” said Ryan Morrison, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center.
A similar lawsuit is currently moving through the courts in Lincoln, where city officials are facing a nearly identical challenge over local firearm restrictions. For now, however, the rules for gun owners in Omaha will remain aligned with the broader standards set by the state legislature.
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