By Cy Ryan

Wed, Apr 11, 2007 (7:32 a.m.)

CARSON CITY - A compromise has been reached over a controversial bill to change a 1965 Clark County ordinance that requires firearms to be registered within 24 hours of purchase or transfer.

On Monday the Senate Government Affairs Committee approved Senate Bill 92, which would loosen gun registration by directing Clark County and its cities to modify ordinances to give residents 72 hours to register. New residents would have 60 days to register weapons.

Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, said the 72-hour requirement was more reasonable.

Gun owners had asked the Senate committee to repeal the Clark County regulation. But the police told the panel that registration is a tool to combat street crime and helps in returning thousands of stolen guns every year.

Opponents of the current ordinances warned that the stringent registration rules could curtail or block a national gun convention that brings 43,000 people to Las Vegas by requiring 2,500 exhibitors to register.

To alleviate prison crowding, Nevad ls are developing a plan that could see the release of more than 200 Nevada inmates who are illegal immigrants.

The state Board of Parole Commissioners is to meet Friday to adopt the procedures so the inmates, once freed, can be turned over to federal immigration authorities for return to their countries, said David Smith, the board's executive secretary.

The Parole Board has agreed to release 49 illegal immigrant inmates over the next few months. The state Board of Pardons will meet April 25 to decide whether the prisoners should be freed immediately and then taken into custody by federal officials.

The state estimates that Nevada's prison population will grow by more than 1,100 inmates over the next two years. Early projections put this year's population at 11,828, 310 inmates over emergency capacity.

After the Parole Board sets its procedures Friday, it will meet May 2-4 to consider the cases of 180 inmates who have INS holds on them but have not served their minimum term.

The Parole Board's recommendations will go to the pardons board, which will determine May 29 whether to eliminate the minimum sentences so the inmates can be released immediately to be returned to their countries.

No sex offenders or violent inmates will be released. Most of those eligible are first-time offenders, many convicted of property or drug crimes, Smith said.

"We're being very conservative," said Dorla Salling, chairwoman of the Parole Board. "We're trying to get people out who would get out very shortly anyway."

The state Fire Marshal Division has failed to adequately regulate businesses with hazardous materials, according to a report by legislative auditors.

Auditors found that 33 of 80 businesses reviewed had no permit to store hazardous items such as paints, oils and gasoline. "Furthermore, more than $100,000 was not collected because of weaknesses in permitting and licensing businesses," the audit said.

The division also failed to perform annual fire safety inspections on 56 of 60 state buildings sampled. In Clark County, there were no inspection records for any state building surveyed. The buildings not inspected include the state Capitol in Carson City and the state Sawyer Office Building in Las Vegas.

"As a result the safety of the public state employees and state property was at risk," the audit team concluded.

The division also did not license fire protection companies and interior designers as required by law. That, too, poses a safety risk, because "licensing interior designers helps ensure they have knowledge of fire-related materials in commercial establishments," the report said.

James Wright, chief of the fire marshal division, said he has been "grappling with various problems" since taking over last August.

"I have given my commitment to correct these issues to the best of my ability with the resources available," he said.