Jarrett Starr/Cole Lavender

3-13-18
AP U.S. Government
Block 1
Mr. Sutliff

Nevada Second Amendment Research Paper

Nevada has some of the most relaxed gun laws in the United States.In fact, the Law

Center to Prevent Gun Violence gave them a “C-” grade. The legislators and majority of people

in this state have been firm believers in the second amendment rights. Instead of listing the laws

that Nevada does have, it would be best to list what they don’t have in place.

There is a multitude of things that support the idea that Nevada is very lenient with their

legislation of guns. Nevada does not require firearm owners to have a license or register their

weapons. They also do not have a limit on the number of weapons an owner can have. Assault

weapons and semi-automatics, like the AR-15 and the AK-47, are legal in the state of Nevada.

Open carry is also legal in Nevada without a permit, meaning that as long as the gun is present to

the public eye and not hidden in any way, it is legal. There are restrictions at the local level that

can limit this in public or private spaces like casinos. There is also no legislation controlling the

transferring of weapons from individual to individual, meaning if I have a weapon and give it to

someone that isn’t illegal or a felon, I can transfer my weapon to them without penalty. Nevada

doesn’t require a mandatory waiting period either when trying to possess a gun, meaning when I

buy a gun I get it immediately and not wait for the full background check to be conducted. There

are also many products that gun owners can obtain to make their guns more powerful.

There is no legislation regulating the number of ammunition in a magazine, meaning that

there can be well over twenty to thirty rounds of bullets in each magazine. Bump stocks are also

legal in the state, which allows a gun of less power to have the ability to fire rounds of
ammunition more efficiently. This was used by Stephen Paddock, the Las Vegas concert shooter.

Another product not regulated in Nevada is silencers, which minimizes the noise the gun makes

when it is fired, which makes it extremely difficult to locate where the gun is being fired. Nevada

has been conducting background checks since 1998, but the system as with many other states is

very corrupt with lots of loopholes. Nevada looked to the FBI to help conduct and monitor

background checks, but they declined as it is not federally mandated. Legislators have not helped

in pushing for more strict gun regulation.

In November of 2016, eleven months before the Las Vegas mass shooting, Nevada voters

approved a gun control law that would require private sellers to conduct criminal background

checks on buyers, but the law wasn’t enforced. The state’s attorney general shut it down saying

the law was “unenforceable” . This attorney general, Adam Laxalt, has also been known to be

supported by the National Rifle Association.

Health care has been major issue in Nevada for a long time. The state has continuously

been placed in the bottom ten of various studies that rank the states’ health care services. Within

that study, Nevada is one of the most expensive states for health care, and the accessibility to

health care is extremely low, because Nevada has the one of the fewest beds per capita as well as

the lowest physicians per capita. Nevada also has one of the lowest rates of insured Adults aged

18 to 64, and lowest rate of insured children in America. All of these factors result in Nevada

being the worst state for those who have mental health illnesses. A large percentage of people

who have mental illnesses are never treated due to the how little services there are as well as how

expensive it is. In regards to gun violence this is exceptionally bad, as that means there are

numerous people in dire need of help with their mental illness. Nevada law states that a person

cannot hold a firearm if the person has been adjudicated as mentally ill, however, with the
combination of an awful health care system as well as weak gun control laws, an undiagnosed

mentally ill person can receive a gun with ease causing rampant gun violence within the state.

Even a person who is deemed mentally ill can receive a gun because of the weak gun control in

the state. Health insurance is not a guarantee for employees from employers but whenever it is

offered, Nevada enforces that there must be a set of specific coverages that must be met.

Psychologists and psychiatric nurses are both required by employers who offer health insurance,

and yet the rate of undiagnosed mental illness is still concerningly high. While this law has

undoubtedly helped some people, it didn’t do enough to help prevent violence. Health care laws

in Nevada have done very little to prevent gun violence as Nevada is ranked as one of the worst

states with gun violence, the problem lies within the lack of people being diagnosed with mental

illnesses as well as the lack luster gun control laws.

Gun control is and will likely always be a heated debate between the two main parties of

the United States. Republicans have always pushed for weaker gun control laws while democrats

have pushed for more strict gun control laws. Despite the debate and various gun incidents, gun

control has become increasingly less strict. Ever since the Sandy Hook Shooting, there have been

over 600 laws that have been passed. Many of these laws have all weakened previous attempts at

gun control and two-thirds of these laws have been NRA backed. The NRA is the main force

fighting strict gun control. The NRA is an interest group that fights to defend the second

amendment, they have great power in the federal government due to the amount of money and

followers it has. They tend to combat any law that would heavily restrict guns and attempt to

weaken gun control in general, all for money and political power. Nevada, being a very rural

area with lots of animals, has plenty of followers of the NRA. The NRA is a large reason as to

why the state has very weak gun control laws.

 Over the past century, there have been a variety of legislation passed to control the use

and ownership of guns, but also court cases that have happened to clarify what the second

amendment allows the government to regulate. The founding fathers created the second

amendment which says it’s “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, which shall not be

infringed”. The last part of course has been modified as certain technological advancements have

been made where certain everyday citizens can’t own certain weapons to maintain public safety.

However, it has been questioned many times as to what the government can regulate on guns

which many court cases have tried to clarify. Many cases have occurred in the past three

decades, including the 1980 Lewis versus the U.S. decision. This granted more power to the

federal government as it decided Congress does have the right to prohibit felons from possessing

firearms. In 1995 there was the U.S. versus Lopez case that led to the Supreme Court limiting the

power of the federal government in regulating the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. There

was also the U.S. versus Rybar case in 1996 that granted the federal government and congress

the power to regulate the possession of homemade machine guns under the Commerce Clause.

There has been a variety of legislation passed by the U.S. government to regulate guns.

In 1934, the National Firearms act taxed the manufacture and transfer of Title II weapons,

like machine guns, shotguns, heavy weapons, etc. There was also the Brady Handgun violence

Prevention Act of 1993 that requires background checks on most firearm purchases depending

on the seeler and venue. In 1994 there was even a Federal Assault Weapons ban which banned

weapons like the ones Nikolas Cruz, Stephen Paddock, and Omar Mateen used in carrying out

their acts of mass shootings. One of many reasons behind their allowance of having these

weapons was due to the fact this ban expired in 2004 and wasn’t renewed by President Bush.

President Obama and his administration tried to pass another ban in December of 2012 after the
Sandy Hook Massacre, but wasn’t able to get through congress. Another piece of legislation

passed by congress was the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005 that prevents

firearms manufacturers from being held liable for negligence when crimes occur using their

products. Today, even after the noticeable rise in gun violence and mass shootings in the past

decade, it has been a struggle to get new legislation passed by congress.

Since Nevada has been a state known for its strong support of the second amendment, it

is viable to believe significant gun control legislation will be passed. As mentioned there has

been a push for legislation on stronger background checks at private sales and limiting the

capacity of magazines, but none of which have made it through the state legislative branch.

There was legislation proposed by democratic senators in the state like Tick Segerblom to ban

assault weapons and again limit magazine capacity in 2013 but was never passed. This state

along with many others are the reason why many people believe including me that there will not

be significant efforts on gun control in the near future. There are so many states that have limited

legislation, Nevada along with 41 other states do not have at least two laws regulating

background checks at private sales, ban assault weapons, or limit the capacity of magazines.

Nevada along with 38 other states also don’t require permits or a license to buy or own guns.

There are too many states that are pro-gun like Nevada and unless these officials are voted out of

their seats, which seems possible with this strong push for gun control legislation after the

Parkland attack, there is reason to believe nothing will continue to be done in Nevada along with

a majority of the nation.

Sources

http://www.newsweek.com/las-vegas-gun-laws-open-carry-concealed-weapon-machine-
guns-all-legal-nevada-675310
 https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7982046/nevada-gun-laws-detailed

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/03/nevada-gun-control-law-las-vegas-
shooting

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/las-vegas-
shooting-could-create-push-for-nevada-gun-legislation/

https://www.nvbar.org/wp-content/uploads/NevLawyerFeb_2014_NV_Gun_Laws.pdf

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-best-health-care/23457/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/mental-health-america-
report_us_580a59b9e4b000d0b1567459

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hundreds-of-new-state-gun-laws-most-expand-
access_us_5a995f07e4b06a04fecca7e6

http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Democratic_Party_Gun_Control.htm

http://www.medsave.com/health%20insurance%20mandates/Health-insurance-
mandates-in-Nevada.htm

http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/possession-of-a-firearm-by-the-
mentally-ill.aspx