During debate that grew emotional at times, opponents argued cities are best positioned to restrict guns in their communities, based on the first-hand experiences of local law enforcement.

"They live on those streets every single day," Morfeld said.

Sen. Rick Kolowski of Omaha recounted being held at gunpoint with a group of travelers on the Amazon River in Peru in the 1990s. One member of his group was shot.

"You don't want that to happen in your life," Kolowski said. "You don't want to see that happen to a member of your family. You don't want to see someone bleeding on the floor in front of you while pressing his wound with a tablecloth."

Ebke read an email from a Lincoln defense attorney, Korey Reiman, who questioned the city's ordinances on practical and legal terms.

Reiman argued anyone who brings a gun into a domestic violence shelter with the intent to do harm wouldn't be worried about the city's ban because that person would already be facing felony charges for making terroristic threats. And people convicted of misdemeanor crimes already unknowingly break the law under Lincoln's more expansive gun ban.