CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Democrats in the Nevada Senate flexed their political power Friday and approved a “red flag” measure that would let authorities or family members seek a court order to take guns away from those who pose a danger to themselves or others.
The state Senate passed the “red flag” proposal in a party-line vote as part of a larger omnibus gun bill.
Supporters say those court orders help prevent school shootings, other mass shootings and suicides. Opponents argue the orders are too broad and lack proper due process.
“This bill is about confiscation. This bill is inappropriate and I do not believe it will withstand constitutional scrutiny,” said Republican Sen. Keith Pickard on the floor.
Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro, a Democrat, stressed the measure would authorize a temporary seizure.
“It is not a permanent confiscation,” she said.
The National Conference of State Legislatures said 15 other U.S. states have passed laws allowing courts to issue similar orders that take guns away from people.
Other provisions of the omnibus bill would lower the legal blood alcohol level to carry a firearm outside a home and create a criminal penalty for those who negligently store a firearm where a child could access it.
It also would enact a state-level ban on bump stocks, a device used by a gunman to carry out the 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival that killed 58 people- the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Bump stocks are used to mimic the firing pace of an automatic weapon.
The gun measure was brought by Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, a Democrat who escaped the 2017 music festival shooting. The “red flag” provision was added to the bill after Jauregui announced she was gutting a main provision that would allow counties to pass stricter firearm laws than those at the state level.
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