Nevada earns a B- for its gun safety laws

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – According to a new study from Giffords Law Center, Nevada has earned a B- when it comes to gun safety laws.

The report comes in the wake of a mass shooting at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas earlier this month where three professors were killed. Allison Anderman, a senior attorney at Giffords Law explains that their annual report shows that states with stronger gun laws have lower gun death rates.

“If you want to save lives we really have to look at what works,” Anderman said.

The gun law scorecard ranks all 50 states and assigns them a point total and grade based on the strength of their gun laws. Anderman says this method provides legislators and voters a roadmap of where the state needs to go.

“Background checks, funding community violence intervention programs, waiting periods, these are things that get a lot of points. Things like permitless carry and ‘Stand Your Ground’ are things that would lose states points,” explains Anderman.

Nevada is home to the deadliest mass shooting in history. In the six years since the Mandalay Bay shooing, Nevada has significantly strengthened its gun safety laws, taking the score from a D to a B-. In that time, Nevada has enacted an extreme risk protection order law, trigger activator ban, and child access prevention law as part of a bill introduced by Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, a survivor of the Las Vegas Route 91 shooting.

“Laws that make it harder for children and minors to access unsecured guns, laws that require guns away from people who become prohibited, and ghost gun regulations. Those are all things Nevada is doing really well,” said Anderman.

However, since we have a B- and not an A rating when it comes to our gun legislation, Anderman says we have room for improvement.

“Nevada does not require gun owners to get a license to own or posses fir arms, Nevada does not have strong laws to keep guns out of the hands of those who commit domestic violence, and Nevada does not regulate assault weapons or high capacity magazines,” Anderman said.

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