Lowest common denominator gun measure endangers Nevada

Monday, Oct. 30, 2017 | 2 a.m.

In the days after the Oct. 1 mass shooting, the National Rifle Association and its puppets in Congress gave the impression they were finally ready to consider reasonable steps to reduce gun violence.

We should have known they were only throwing up a smokescreen.

Now comes news that Congress is pushing an ugly piece of legislation known as the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, which would essentially rob states like Nevada of the ability to decide who should and shouldn’t be allowed to carry a concealed weapon within our state lines.

The bill would require any state that issues concealed carry permits to honor those issued by other states.

For states that would have to recognize Nevada’s permits, that’s not such a bad thing. Not just anybody can get a permit in our state, and that’s as it should be. It requires completion of a firearm safety course and a demonstration of competence with a handgun, and applicants can be denied for a variety of reasons, such as having a recent conviction for a violent misdemeanor crime or being the subject of a restraining order due to domestic violence.

These are the minimal requirements that one should expect.

What’s unreasonable is to order states like Nevada to abide by the policies of some other states, where anyone who can legally purchase a gun under federal law can get a permit.

Thanks to lousy laws on the state books, Nevada already allows permit holders in a number of states to carry concealed weapons in the state, including some that are too loose for comfort. But under the CCRA, Nevada would face losing the ability to revise those laws short of abandoning concealed carry altogether, which isn’t likely to happen. In other words, we’d no longer be able to pick and choose.

No way, NRA. Nevada won’t stand for it.

It’s difficult enough for our resorts and other businesses to keep guns off their premises, and a bill like this would lead to more guns coming in.

Not only that, but the law would be a major attack on states’ rights and would give activist states the opportunity to dictate interstate policies. Think of it this way: Nevada considers it legal to purchase and consume marijuana, so should that legality be recognized in all states?

In Las Vegas, especially, we know painfully well that the NRA’s ridiculous assertion that more guns mean more safety couldn’t be further from the truth. Witness Stephen Paddock and his arsenal of 40-plus weapons, not to mention the countless guns that are used in crimes here week in and week out.

Here and elsewhere, the glut of guns isn’t keeping anyone safe — it’s helped create an epidemic of crime and accidents that has put public safety at extreme risk.

For a brief moment after the Oct. 1 shooting, it looked like the NRA might finally have to face that truth. The organization announced it would support a ban on bump stocks, the aftermarket devices that Paddock used to fire his semiautomatic rifles virtually like machine guns.

Supporters of congressional legislation to facilitate easier sales of silencers and armor-piercing bullets also eased off.

But given that the NRA and pro-gun members of Congress were still resisting other common-sense measures like a ban on high-capacity magazines, it was always clear that any movement they’d make would be a baby step.

Now, any notion that the NRA was coming off its insane bent to put a gun in the hand of every single American — and generate more billions in sales for gun manufacturers — is gone. The concealed carry act is proof of that.

Nevada lawmakers owe it to state residents, and to visitors like those who attended the Route 91 Harvest Festival, to fight this terrible measure at every turn.