Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

NV Politics: Firearms group creates PAC ‘to make sure we use our voice’

Updated Monday, Feb. 10, 2014 | 2:54 p.m.

The Nevada Firearms Coalition is creating a political action committee to try to defeat candidates who support gun background checks and tax increases on ammunition.

The coalition already is targeting state Sen. Justin Jones, D-Las Vegas, who is facing what looks to be a hotly contested re-election campaign against Republican challenger and Las Vegas lawyer Becky Harris.

“Nevada gun owners have been silent too long, and because of our silence, State Senator Justin Jones almost succeeded in disarming Nevadans,” Don Turner, president of the Nevada Firearms Coalition and the new PAC, said in a news release today announcing the PAC's creation. “Nevadans can’t take our Second Amendment rights for granted, so we created this PAC at the request of the Nevada gun owners to make sure we use our voice in the future.”

At the Legislature last year, Turner and the Nevada Firearms Coalition had opposed Jones' Senate Bill 221, which would've required background checks for most private-party gun sales in the state.

The Democratic-controlled Senate and Assembly passed the bill, but Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval vetoed it.

Jones said his bill was “common-sense legislation to keep guns out of the hands of criminals by implementing background checks in Nevada.”

In a statement, Jones cited polling that circulated last year that showed more than 80 percent of Nevadans supported the concept of background checks for private-party gun sales.

“As a father, and as a legislator, it is my responsibility to do everything I can to keep our children safe,” he said. “Whether it is keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, or fighting for crosswalks and traffic signals on Blue Diamond, I will continue to work diligently on behalf of my constituents.”

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