No excuse: Stronger gun laws could have prevented woman’s slaying

By Mechele Lavoll

Friday, May 6, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Six years ago, my beloved daughter, Brittney, was shot and killed by her estranged former boyfriend — the father of two of her children. She was only 22 and had her whole life ahead of her.

On the morning of March 25, 2010, Brittney went to the Las Vegas restaurant where she worked, and before she could even exit her car, her ex-boyfriend approached her. Knowing he was abusive and dangerous, she screamed for help — but she never stood a chance. He pulled out a .25-caliber handgun and shot Brittney in the head.

No mother should ever have to bury her daughter, and no young child should ever have to bury a parent. Brittney was a wonderful daughter, a hard worker and an adoring mother to her sons; she would have done anything for them. Her murder left her children parentless; their mother is dead and their father is in prison. Now, my husband and I are doing our best to raise three young boys. I can’t work until the youngest goes to high school, and my husband works six or seven days a week to provide for our grandchildren.

Not a day goes by that I don’t cry for her. I constantly fight back the tears when I catch myself looking at the boys and seeing signs of Brittney. They are the loves of my life, but also a constant reminder of our deep loss.

Brittney’s murder is even more devastating because it could have been prevented by better laws. Looking back, it is crystal clear that her ex-boyfriend should never have been able to get his hands on a gun. His criminal history — which included a felony robbery conviction and two charges of misdemeanor domestic violence — prohibited him from buying or having firearms.

But he took advantage of a loophole in Nevada’s gun laws. Instead of getting a gun at a licensed firearms dealer that must conduct a background check — which he would have failed — he got his gun through an unlicensed sale. All he had to do was buy the gun from a friend — no background check required, no questions asked.

My daughter did what she could to protect herself, but Nevada laws failed her. Brittney ended her relationship with her killer two and a half years before her death — but that was not enough to protect her. Since her murder, I’ve learned a lot more about domestic violence and how deadly it can be when guns are involved.

A new report from the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence and Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund is shockingly clear about this. It reveals that women in Nevada are 65 percent more likely to be shot to death by current or former intimate partners than women nationwide are. In fact, FBI data show that Nevada has the fifth-highest rate of domestic violence gun homicides of women of any state. Our state laws are failing women and children — and we must do more to protect women like Brittney and children like my grandsons.

Last year, Nevada took a first step by enacting a law prohibiting gun possession by convicted abusers. But, state law does not explicitly require that dangerous domestic abusers must surrender the guns they already have. Nevada law also fails to require criminal background checks for all gun sales. These loopholes make it possible for abusers to illegally keep the guns they already have. And it remains far too easy for dangerous abusers to still buy guns through the internet or one-on-one unlicensed sales — as Brittney’s killer did.

It has been six years since my daughter was killed, and the void her death left behind is as heartbreaking today as it was the day she died. You don’t ever recover from the death of a child; you just have to try to make it through another day and learn to live with a new normal.

It’s too late to save Brittney, but I don’t want another mother to go through this unbearable pain. We cannot afford to wait any longer to take action to reduce intimate partner gun violence in Nevada and help save lives.

Mechele Lavoll lives in Las Vegas with her husband and grandchildren.