(Picture credit Lewis Thune)
OMAHA — Governor Jim Pillen received the National Rifle Association Victory Fund’s (NRA-VF) endorsement in a brief event at 88 Tactical in Omaha Monday morning. Pillen, flanked by Lieutenant Governor Joe Kelly, former state senator Col. Tom Brewer, and NRA-VF Chair John Commerford, pitched the issue as one with little to no middle ground.
“There’s nothing to hiccup about, nothing to explain about. It’s black and white,” he said. “If we can’t stand up and defend ourselves – if somebody’s against that – it’s hard. It’s just absolutely hard to comprehend.”
Specifically noted was LB77 passed in 2023, the first bill he signed into law as governor, which allowed for permit-less statewide concealed carry. Pillen hailed the project and its driving force in the Legislature, Col. Brewer, calling the decorated veteran and sharpshooter an “extraordinary patriot.”
Brewer would also take the podium to speak on gun rights and the fight for LB77.
“If you’re gonna be a second amendment person, you need to come in with a full heart. You need to be willing to help with youth hunting programs and hunter safety. You need to be a lifetime member of the NRA. You need to do the things that indicate that this is truly what you want to do,” he said.
Brewer recalled five unsuccessful attempts to pass LB77, mentioning Pillen’s Democratic challenger, Lynne Walz
“I can tell you Lynne and I are good friends. She’s a really nice person, but specifically, as you’re looking at electing someone to be the governor of the state of Nebraska, you need to look at a lifetime of work,” he said. “I could never inspire or convince certain people to vote for the Second Amendment in LB77… Lynne was one of those.”
He contrasted that with Pillen’s commitment on the issue – recalling his eventual success passing LB77, he said Pillen had initially offered an immediate signing, the paper being walked from the Unicameral floor directly to his desk.
Commerford cited the state’s progress on constitutional carry as a major rationale for endorsing Pillen.
“Your personal safety and the safety of yourself, your family – it’s your responsibility first. You shouldn’t have to go to the government, pay a fee, and ask for permission to simply keep your family safe,” he said. “There’s always more work to do, that’s why we need four more years of Governor Pillen as his team.”
Lt. Gov. Kelly also spoke briefly, agreeing with the black-and-white framing of the issue, and calling constitutional carry a historic win for self-defense.
“For those store owners who are locking up at 2AM and have to go out to their car, this was a great victory,” he said. “This is one of those issues where you can’t just sit in the middle.”
Kelly, whose previous career came as an attorney and prosecutor, also stated that initial concerns from law enforcement regarding LB77 had abated.
“Colonel Brewer spent two or three sessions listening to everybody along the line, everybody who had an opinion about that bill, to try and work with them… and I think they did a heck of a job,” he said. “I really had zero, no law enforcement approach me since that time, saying, ‘Hey, this is a problem.’”
Pillen primarily focused his remarks on the economic and family benefits of a state with strong second amendment protections.
“I think it’s incredibly important that we also recognize just the role that firearms have not only in keeping us safe, but in developing the next generation – being out in the cornfields of Nebraska and hunting,” he said. “We’ve got 75,000 miles of rivers and streams in the state that we can hunker down and shoot our migrating birds and waterfowl… it’s an extraordinary privilege.”
He mentioned he needed to improve his own shooting before his granddaughter surpassed him before bringing attention to gun and ammunition sales in Nebraska.
“I’m gonna give a shout out to the Hornady family – they are extraordinary manufacturers of consumerism in the second amendment. Hornady bullets, as I’ve said, the best bullet in the world, and we make it here in Nebraska.”
Pillen yielded to some scattered questions, telling one attendee that he’d support any measure to further strengthen Second Amendment protections, including the state’s castle doctrine and stand your ground laws, calling it a “no brainer.”
The governor closed in the same terms as he’d put the issue.
“My opponents in this governor’s race, however many there are on the ballot and whatever kind of parties they’re named under – if I’m black, they’re white. If I’m red, they’re blue. There’s no comparison.”
The Plains Sentinel has reached out to the Walz campaign for comment on the story.
— Lewis Thune is a writing fellow with The Plains Sentinel.