Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Guest column:

Lawmakers made state safer by addressing gun violence

The 2019 Nevada legislative session was historic in terms of its diversity of representation, with women holding majorities in both chambers of a state legislature for the first time in the nation’s history.

But lawmakers made even more history by passing a number of bills that will improve the lives of Nevadans, including new laws on gun safety. These measures, some of which passed with bipartisan support, had been strongly supported by progressive activists for years.

Perhaps one of the biggest ways in which Gov. Steve Sisolak distinguished himself during his first legislative session was his bold pursuit of gun violence prevention legislation. Senate Bill 143, which was introduced and signed within the first month of the session, put into law the expanded background check initiative passed by Nevada voters in 2016.

The history of background checks in Nevada goes back even further to 2013, when Justin Jones, then a state senator and now a Clark County commissioner, brought forward a similar bill that did not survive then-Gov. Brian Sandoval’s veto pen.

Now, with the help of a governor courageous enough to take action on gun safety, Nevada will finally have closed the background check loopholes on all firearm purchases. This will make Nevada safer by ensuring firearms are only sold to those who can pass a basic background check.

The specter of the Oct. 1 massacre is an ever-present reminder that our Las Vegas community was the site of the deadliest mass shooting in our nation’s history. However, it also symbolizes the effort and care Nevadans had for one another in that moment, which translated into concrete action to help survivors heal and support the families of the fallen. But one legislative champion stood out above the rest this session, and that was Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui. Nevada is lucky to be served by Jauregui, who led the effort to prevent such a horrific tragedy from happening again.

A survivor of the shooting, Jauregui sponsored Assembly Bill 291, which made several changes to public safety laws. First, it outlawed bump stocks and similar devices that make a firearm behave like an automatic weapon. Next, it lowered the legal blood-alcohol limit allowed for possessing a firearm from .10 to 0.08. It includes a safe storage provision, making it a misdemeanor to fail to secure a firearm in a residence with a child. Finally, it creates an extreme-risk protection order procedure for law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms from a person who demonstrates high-risk behavior to a family or household member.

While this bill enacts several crucial gun safety measures, one key piece amended out of the final bill was a repeal of state pre-emption of local gun laws. Had the original version of AB291 passed, it would have given county commissions across the state the authority to craft their own local ordinances, something which was sorely needed by the Clark County Commission in the aftermath of the Oct. 1 shooting. During the legislative process, the bill was amended by the state Senate to remove those sections. More work remains to be done next session to untie the hands of local governments to make firearm laws appropriate for their jurisdictions.

In spite of this, we are proud and thankful for Jauregui, not only for sponsoring AB291, but for bravely turning her Oct. 1 survival story into advocacy for gun safety in Nevada. We’re eager to go back to Carson City in 2021 to keep fighting to make our communities safer.

Will Pregman is communications director for Battle Born Progress. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from UNLV and has lived in Las Vegas for more than 20 years.