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Charles Dharapak / AP
Supporters of gun control gather on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House on Friday, Dec. 14, 2012, during a vigil for the victims of the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. They called on President Barack Obama to pass strong gun control laws.
By Tovin Lapan (contact) 
Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Gun law debate
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KSNV reports on how the Newtown, Conn., shooting massacre has revived the debate over gun control laws in America.
In the wake of the Friday shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., communities across the country are looking inward to assess what provisions they have in place to prevent firearms from ending up in the wrong hands.
Nevada’s laws are fairly straightforward, with few restrictions other than those imposed by federal law. Clark County, the largest municipality in the state, has somewhat stricter regulations.
In fact, in addition to the federal guarantee of the right to own firearms, Nevada has enshrined the right to gun ownership in the state constitution.
“Every citizen has the right to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes,” Article 1, Section 11 of the Nevada Constitution reads.
All handguns, firearms with a barrel length of less than 12 inches, must be registered in Clark County. New residents have 60 days to go to a police station and register; current residents have 72 hours to register a new handgun purchase.
There is no permit required for open carry, where the weapon is fully exposed — such as with an on-the-belt hip holster.
The open-carry option isn’t all that popular.
“It’s just easier for folks not to open carry,” Metro Police Officer Jose Hernandez said. “Sure, you can carry your firearm on the sidewalk and no one will bother you, but once you start going into certain businesses, they can tell you whatever they want. It’s a private business and they decide whom they want to serve. There are a lot of places you won’t be able to get into if you carry.”
A permit is required in Nevada for people who conceal the handgun they carry.
Local law enforcement handles the concealed carry permitting process. A Nevada concealed weapon permit expires after five years.
“Nevada honors other states’ concealed weapon permits if that state’s regulations are as strict or more strict than ours,” said Pat Conmay, Nevada Department of Public Safety Division chief of records and technology.
The Nevada Supreme Court had ruled that concealed weapons permits were public records, but in 2011, the Nevada Legislature overrode that ruling when it passed a bill that made concealed weapons records confidential.
“There is concern over the sensitive nature of having a list of people who possess guns,” Conmay said. “There is a fear that government would abuse such a thing, and there are safety concerns.”
Concealed weapon permit holders argued before the Nevada Legislature in 2011 that their safety was at risk if the public could find out who had a concealed weapon permit.
Nevada, like every state, must follow federal laws regarding gun ownership, including a background check stipulated under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. An applicant can be disqualified from purchasing a weapon for a variety of reasons, including conviction for any crime punishable by more than one year of incarceration, use of a controlled substance, being adjudicated as a mental defective or committed to a mental institution, dishonorable discharge from the U.S. military and a history of domestic violence or harassment.
Once the background check comes back clean, which in many cases can be done instantaneously, the purchaser may take home the gun. In Clark County, there is a three-day “cooling-off” period for people who are purchasing their first handgun from a registered dealer.
Federal law only requires that those who are engaged in the business of dealing firearms obtain a federal license. Private individuals who sell their own gun or those who only make occasional sales are not required to conduct background checks. This is where the so-called “gun show loophole” comes into play.
In Clark County, however, if a resident sells a handgun to another county resident, the seller must go to a local police office to transfer the handgun permit, known as a “blue card.”
Nevada is one of 37 “shall issue” states, which means sheriffs are required to issue a concealed weapon permit as long as the applicant is at least 21 years old, demonstrates competence with each weapon included on the permit, has no outstanding warrants, is free of felony or weapons-related convictions, is a legal resident of the United States, has not been declared incompetent or insane and does not habitually use alcohol or a controlled substance to impair normal faculties.
Some states are known as “may issue,” and in those states, authorities have more discretion in deciding who receives a permit.
A person carrying a concealed gun also is required to have a conceal carry permit in his or her possession. Failure to do so can result in a $25 civil penalty.
Carrying a concealed weapon without obtaining a permit is a Class C felony, which can carry a one-year minimum and five-year maximum jail sentence and/or a fine of no more than $10,000.
Anyone convicted of violating any Clark County gun ordinance is guilty of a misdemeanor and could be subject to up to six months in jail or up to a $500 fine or both.
By Nevada law, firearms are banned at schools and universities — unless the gun owner obtains written permission — as well as all federal buildings, courthouses, airports and private property where it is posted that firearms are not allowed. However, firearms are allowed in state parks.
Hernandez said the confiscation of illegal firearms is a major Metro Police focus. This year, 189 firearms have been confiscated; 146 were seized last year.
Posting a sign at a private business does not make it illegal to take a licensed concealed hand gun into that business, they could ask you to leave if they wanted too, for any reason....or at least that is what I was told at the ccw class.
How about every time someone commits a crime with a gun one of these liberal loons lose their privilege to drive.
Take away guns and then the nuts amongst us are going to build bombs. But then we can talk about taking away the bombs? Not while the military industrial complex will send lobbyists to buy d.c., no way!! Get over it, we're a violent soiety because of the way we define success, and then allow it to proceed so unfairly. After all, do you think six members of a retail fortune having as much wealth as thirty percent of the entire population has no effect? Well, if you do that would be simply the definition of denial. It would be what our leaders want you to believe, that they're fighting the tough fights, while the entire middle class goes round and round like rats in a maze, except for all but begging being the main difference!!! Denial is where we are if we don't think a society based on success can have such skewed measures of wealth. The can do nation that has to do something, anything, or be called out, humiliated, is now mainly on assistance of some sort. For now, but that's why attacks on rights are on the agenda!! While, as well, we're still attempting to effectively make bricks without straw, still attempting to be all you can be or be seen as someone this society will call the problem messin up success...that's what these kids of the dominant culture are showing us...they're wilding out as they reach for a standard that ain't real...as if leading the world in rates of incarceraton and total number of prisoners didn't say as much?!?! Get real, that ain't free it's a police state!!! While at the same time leaders ask the youth now for more while they again and again show how little they'll really tackle the problems. Sick!! Failed!! Lost!! Our leaders are the problem and now the kids are suffering, literally!!! But guess what? They don't care, and that's why worse is yet to come, probably something along the lines of another mushroom cloud somewhere no where relevant to America's day to day. Or, now roving vans of thought police rounding up those who are more free than the rest of can adjust to as we struggle not to be left behind. Yea, thought police, literally, not health care!!! TAX THE RICH YOU IDIOTS...THERE'S MORE THAN ENOUGH SO THEY WON'T EVEN NOTICE IT...AND PEOPLE WAKE UP, WE'RE BEING PLAYED, THE MIDDLE CLASS IS GOING AWAY...THAT EQUALS NO BALANCE...WAKE UP!!
While it's a normal human reaction to want to "do something" in response to tragedy - amplified 100 times by politicians always looking towards the next election - the unfortunate reality is that whatever the pols come out with is going to be ineffective & inefficient. Ineffective in the sense that it will prevent the next tragedy, inefficient in that it will undoubtedly be costly both in fiscal & political terms. (Ineffective - Individuals motivated to perpetrate such actions aren't going to be deterred; they'll either find a source somehow or come up with alternate means. Inefficient - Controlling just firearms will prove extremely costly and is constitutionally questionable. Locating, monitoring and controlling potential perpetrators before they act will be difficult, costly and more than likely unconstitutional.) The only viable solution (not just knee-jerk response) is social change, one that includes more community amongst individuals, less polarization & divisiveness between groups, and greater civility over all. (Yeah, I know, we'll all be holding hands & singing Kumbaya soon too. But it's really all we have folks -- unless we're prepared for a significantly more draconian future. Keep in mind that on the same day China, not known for it's freedoms or easily obatined weapons, dealt with a mass knife attack at an elementary school by a deranged individual. Luckily, no one seems to have died, but what about next time?)
Although an informative article -- firearm registration, permission and/or restriction requirements are impediments upon one's ability to freely exercise their rights, more importantly their ability to viably preserve their right to life and liberty thus registration/permission/restriction "requirements" can and should be argued/considered unconstitutional as being threats to one's RIGHT to life and liberty.
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Good article. Excellent research. Timely....
The United States Constitution (including the Second Amendment---in which bearing arms was in the context of a militia) was written by men.
No one else had a say in the Constitution...
just white men with money, guns and power.
And by the way, why the heck are military grade automatic and semi-automatic weapons allowed in the hands of civilians who can go from "sane" to "insane" at ANY given time?
That's also why background checks don't guarantee anyone's safety.