Open Carry in Nebraska

Nebraska has no state law that requires a permit to carry a handgun or long gun openly; the state's carry ban applies only to minors and prohibited persons carrying a weapon concealed. Other rules still apply: a person under 18 may not possess a handgun (with listed exceptions), firearms are restricted at schools and in the State Capitol, and cities, villages and counties may not regulate the possession or transportation of firearms except as state law expressly provides.

Adults who are not minors or prohibited persons may carry a concealed handgun, including in a vehicle, without a permit. Driving into a public parking area of an off-limits place is not a violation if, before leaving the vehicle, the handgun is 'locked inside the glove box, trunk, or other compartment of the vehicle,' a storage box securely attached to the vehicle, or a hardened compartment on a motorcycle (unless federal law bans guns in that parking area). Employers may ban concealed handguns in employer-owned vehicles. For school grounds, unloaded firearms in a nonstudent adult's private vehicle that are cased or in a locked rack are allowed.

No concealed handgun may be carried into: police, sheriff or State Patrol stations or offices; detention facilities, prisons or jails; courtrooms or buildings containing a courtroom; polling places during an election; meetings of county, school district, city or other local governing bodies; meetings of the Legislature or its committees; financial institutions; professional or semiprofessional athletic events; buildings, grounds, vehicles, sponsored activities or athletic events of any school; places of worship; hospitals, emergency rooms or trauma centers; political rallies or fundraisers; establishments with a liquor license that get more than half their income from alcohol; places where firearms are barred by state or federal law; and private property or employers' premises where the person in control prohibits concealed handguns (if open to the public, by conspicuous posted notice or a request to remove the gun). A first violation is a Class III misdemeanor. Separately, possessing any firearm at a school, on school grounds, in a school vehicle or at a school-sponsored event is a Class IV felony, with listed exceptions. Permit holders may carry in the State Capitol.