Nevada bill banning bump stocks, allowing ‘red flags’ signed into law

Gov. Steve Sisolak on Friday signed into law the comprehensive bill designed to prevent mass shootings.

AB291 mirrors new federal rules that ban bump stocks and other devices designed to make a semi-automatic weapon fire like a machine gun.

But the language that drew the most objections from Second Amendment advocates is the “extreme risk” or “red flag” section of the measure. That language allows family members and others who see some one displaying warning signs to report them and have law enforcement temporarily confiscate their firearms. A hearing would be held within seven days to determine whether that person should get their weapons back but opponents charged the bill unconstitutionally seizes their firearms.

“For the last 20 years we have lived with the reality of school shootings,” said Sisolak. “And in October 2017, Nevada experienced the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history when a gunman opened fire on a concert in Las Vegas and, in a matter of minutes, killed 58 people and injured over 400.”

He said AB291 contains language already approved in a number of other states including Florida and, he said, those laws have prevented potential tragedies.

In addition to extreme risk provisions and banning bump stocks. AB291 requires Nevadans to store firearms responsibly to prevent children from getting them.

Sisolak commended Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, D-Las Vegas, for sponsoring the measure and battling to get it through the Legislature. Jauregui was at that October concert and, with her boyfriend, had to flee for her life.

Jauregui said even while AB291 was being approved in Nevada, a gunman killed a dozen people in Virginia Beach in a matter of minutes.

“We’ll never be able to go back and protect those who have been taken from us by gun violence,” she said. “But because of the actions that we took in Nevada, we are making our communities a safer place.”

Along the same lines, Sisolak signed AB534 requiring state and county emergency plans to include critical victim services. Finally, he signed SB463 that calls for creation of programs to support the mental health of first responders, medical providers and coroner’s deputies in the wake of a shooting plus a program that provides those services to the public.