BY JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star
Sunday, Dec 16, 2007 - 12:06:22 am CST

Guns in the wrong hands has been a longtime problem in this country.

It's a problem in Nebraska, too, especially in Omaha, where residents have seen months of gun violence, including the murder this month of eight workers and shoppers at Westroads' Von Maur store and the suicide of the shooter.

In July, Omaha saw 31 shootings in 31 days.

Seven people have been shot in Lincoln this year. More than 200 guns have been reported stolen.

After mass killings, such as the one at the Westroads, state and national lawmakers try their hand at new laws that could help ease the problem.

Many of those attempts fail.

Guns laws changed little in Colorado after a mass killing at Columbine High School in 1999.

In 2004, Congress failed to renew an expired ban on certain assault weapons.

The National Rifle Association's influence on gun legislation has remained powerful. Some gun advocates suggest states and the federal government focus attention, instead, on identifying and treating unstable people.

This summer, in the middle of the gun problems in Omaha, state Sen. Brad Ashford assembled elected officials and others to talk about what new laws might be needed.

Along with the lack of attention to mental health issues is the over proliferation of guns, he said.

Ashford, who has worked on gun control measures since he was in the Legislature in the late 1980s and early 1990s, said he'll introduce a proposal to state legislators when the session opens in January. It's not massive gun control, he said, but rather focuses on the number of guns in the hands of minors.

According to the Lancaster County 2005 Youth Behavior Risk Survey, 7 percent of high school students said they carried a gun in the past 30 days. In Lincoln Public Schools, that would translate to about 700 teens.

Ashford's proposal would cover the duty to report missing firearms, safe gun storage and tracing guns. It would create a gun violence commission and establish a hotline to report possession by juveniles.

* People would be required to  report a lost or stolen gun within 48 hours, even if the gun is not registered or is improperly registered.

No punishment would result to the reporting person if it is unregistered, but failing to report a missing gun could result in a $500 fine.

* It would be a felony to store a loaded gun, or one with ammunition, and a juvenile gets the gun and uses it to injure or kill someone.

It would not apply if the gun was stored in a locked box or a secure location, or with a trigger lock; the gun was obtained by an illegal entry; the injury resulted from target or sport shooting or a hunting accident; or the juvenile obtained the gun from a military or law enforcement person during his or her official duties.

* A gun found in the possession of a juvenile would be traced to determine how he or she got the gun.

A firearm recovered during a criminal investigation would also require a trace. The Nebraska State Patrol would keep a registry of the information.

* A hotline would take anonymous reports to the State Patrol of any suspected gun possession by a juvenile.

* A commission would investigate the state's recent surge in gun violence and gun-related deaths. The commission would examine gun trafficking, illegal gun sales and other factors contributing to gun violence…

Another Omaha senator, Gwen Howard, said nobody needs to own an assault weapon and, certainly, children should not have access to them in their homes…

An attempt to reach a representative of the NRA was unsuccessful. Ashford said he expects the organization likely will oppose the legislation.

"This is a pretty modest proposal," he said. "It's not overly broad. It gets right at the problem."