Expanding background checks will help improve safety in all communities

By Ken Evans, special to the Sun

Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016 | 2 a.m.

Editor's note: With Election Day on the horizon, the Sun is presenting a special package of guest columns today from supporters of Ballot Question 1, which would expand background checks for firearms purchases. The Sun endorses the measure.

The concerns of communities of color are the same as any other community. We all want the same things — quality schools, good jobs and safe neighborhoods where we can live in peace and raise our families. The increasing gun violence in Southern Nevada is a concern to African Americans just as it is a concern to all Nevadans who want to live and work in a safe place.

As someone who served more than 25 years in the Air Force and was deployed several times, I am familiar with guns and know what the responsible handling and possession of guns should entail. I carried a sidearm and rifle during my tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and fully understand and support the appropriate use of guns. I believe in responsible handling, training and use of firearms in civilian environments like our neighborhoods, just as I was taught and instilled in the individuals under my command when I served.

I strongly support Question 1 because I believe it will help reduce gun violence and save the lives of Nevadans. Background checks help keep felons, domestic batterers and other dangerous people from getting guns. Question 1 promotes the responsible handling of firearms, which includes background checks so we can be sure that someone who gets a gun is allowed to have it.

It’s important to know that Question 1 does not change who can or cannot buy a gun. It is already illegal for felons, fugitives and domestic abusers to buy guns, and Question 1 does not change that. It does not infringe on our Second Amendment rights or restrict anyone’s ability to buy a gun or arm ourselves for self-protection or to protect our families. That’s our right, and it doesn’t change when Question 1 is passed.

What Question 1 will change is the easy access that criminals and domestic batterers have to guns in sales that don’t require background checks. Leveling the playing field by requiring background checks on all gun sales will help reduce gun violence in all communities, including communities of color, and that’s why I am voting yes on Question 1.

Ken Evans is a business owner and retired lieutenant colonel from the United States Air Force Reserve.