Nevada youth not safe from gunfire

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.

For the sixth year in a row, a national organization that aims to protect children from guns has ranked Nevada's efforts as below average.

Tuesday, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, based in Washington, D.C., gave Nevada a D+ grade for: "very weak" laws regarding possession of guns by juveniles; no required background checks for private gun purchases, especially at gun shows; and "inadequate" laws to prevent child access to weapons.

To the Silver State's credit, Nevada does hold adults responsible if they leave loaded guns around children, the study noted.

But that didn't prevent 31 children and teens from dying in Nevada as a result of gunshot wounds in 2000, the most recent year for which data is available.

The number of young people killed nationwide by guns has dropped from an average of 16 per day to eight since the Brady Campaign began grading state gun laws in 1997.

During the same period, the Centers of Disease Control reported a 48 percent reduction in the firearms death rate per 100,000 children and teens.

A Clark County-based nonprofit organization that aims to prevent injuries and deaths from unintentional shootings, vehicle crashes, drownings, falls and other causes said gun deaths could be prevented with common sense.

"Our main focus as far as firearm injury is for parents to have safe storage and gun locks because we know that with safety devices more than 30 percent of firearm deaths could be prevented," said Jeanne Cosgrove, R.N., director of the Clark County Safe Kids Coalition.

"Every shooting of children ages 5 and under could be prevented with safe storage and gun locks," she added.

Nevada can improve its grade next year by requiring child safety locks to be sold with guns to prevent unintentional shootings and by requiring all gun buyers to go through criminal background checks, especially buyers at gun shows, said Sarah Brady, chairwoman of the Brady Campaign.

"Polls consistently show that most Americans approve of stronger gun laws to protect our children," Brady said.

For Greg Rentchler, owner of Southwest Tactical in Henderson, owning a gun is a matter of individual rights.

"I'm a gun dealer and teach concealed weapons classes for people in Arizona, Nevada and Utah," Rentchler said.

Rentchler has spent more than 30 years in law enforcement after studying criminology at Long Beach State (Calif.) University.

As part of his weapons class, Rentchler said he teaches people what to do with guns in homes where children live. He gives safety precautions and pointers on how to keep the guns safe.

"I am a life member of the National Rifle Association," Rentchler said. As for Sarah Brady and other anti-gun supporters, he doesn't agree with their efforts to stop gun sales.

"I come from a law enforcement background in Los Angeles," he said. "I saw more ruthlessness from predators there than I care to remember."

The Brady Campaign gave D and F grades to 29 states -- many of which had child and teen firearm death rates that are higher than the national average.

Six states, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey, received A grades.