{"id":307585,"date":"2024-01-22T15:24:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T21:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=307585"},"modified":"2024-01-22T18:55:43","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T00:55:43","slug":"nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"Nebraska Gaming Board Spent $30K on Semi-Automatic Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission (NRGC) spent $30,351 on semi-automatic rifles for its 10 investigators, The Lincoln Journal Star<\/em><\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

\"Nebraska
The SIG MPX rifle, which the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission says will protect the public against active shooters, was prioritized over the purchase of vehicles for its new investigators. (Image: Shooting Illustrated<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The purchase has raised eyebrows in Lincoln, the state capital. Some lawmakers have questioned whether it\u2019s strictly necessary for an agency tasked with enforcing gaming regulations in the state\u2019s new casino industry to pack fully outfitted SIG Sauer MPX rifles with laser sights.<\/p>\n

\n

The additional revelation that the weapons were purchased before the agency bought any new vehicles for its expanded team<\/a> may have caused even more strain to the eyebrows of Lincoln politicians. The agency currently has just two cars, according to the Journal Star.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Before the advent of casinos<\/a> in 2022, when the NRGC was focused solely on regulating horse racing, it had just one investigator. Now, its ranks have swelled tenfold.<\/p>\n

\u2018Active Shooter Threat\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

NRGC investigator Steve Eppens was forced to defend the purchase to the Journal Star <\/em>this week. He said that in the event of an active shooter in a casino or racetrack, NRGC agents would have \u201ca duty to intervene and eliminate the threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in this profession to protect the public. That\u2019s what we do,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

A shoulder-fired rifle, like the SIG MPX, is more accurate than a handgun in such an emergency, minimizing the risk to innocent bystanders, Eppens told the Journal Star<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Eppens emphasized that all NRGC investigators are considered deputy state sheriffs under state law and have the power to make arrests.<\/p>\n

Tried to Cancel<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When questions started being raised in the state capitol building, records show that Eppens tried to cancel the order.<\/p>\n

I just received a directive from my director that we need to suspend our order of the SIG MPX\u2019s effective immediately,\u201d<\/strong> he wrote to the supplier in November. \u201cThere has [sic] been some political issues that have surfaced regarding purchase of equipment and its deployment.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cOur hope is we can work through this and revisit the order of these rifles soon, as they are a very important piece of equipment for the protection of the public, as well as officer safety,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

But it was too late. The supplier couldn’t cancel the order because the guns were being custom-fitted, and the work had already begun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission (NRGC) spent $30,351 on semi-automatic rifles for its 10 investigators, The Lincoln Journal Star reports. The purchase has raised eyebrows in Lincoln, the state capital. Some lawmakers have questioned whether it\u2019s strictly necessary for an agency tasked with enforcing gaming regulations in the state\u2019s new casino industry to pack […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":307586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61,13592,84511],"tags":[89597,89598,89599],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNebraska Gaming Commission Defends $30K Splurge on Semi-Automatic Weapons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission ordered ten semi-automatic SIG Sauer MPX rifles for its investigators, but why?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nebraska Gaming Commission Defends $30K Splurge on Semi-Automatic Weapons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission ordered ten semi-automatic SIG Sauer MPX rifles for its investigators, but why?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-22T21:24:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-23T00:55:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/sig.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"987\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"551\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons\/\",\"name\":\"Nebraska Gaming Commission Defends $30K Splurge on Semi-Automatic Weapons\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/sig.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-22T21:24:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-23T00:55:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission ordered ten semi-automatic SIG Sauer MPX rifles for its investigators, but why?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/nebraska-gaming-commission-defends-30k-splurge-on-semi-automatic-weapons\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/sig.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/sig.jpg\",\"width\":987,\"height\":551,\"caption\":\"The SIG MPX rifle, which the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission says will protect the public against active shooters, was prioritized over the purchase of vehicles for its new investigators. 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