STATEMENT: Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Commends Nevada for Passing Omnibus Gun Safety Legislation
Governor Sisolak signs AB 291, the 1 October Bill, into law
AB 291 bans bump stocks, creates a process to obtain an extreme risk protection order, and keeps guns out of the hands of children
June 14, 2019— Giffords , the gun safety organization led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, praised Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak and the Nevada legislature for signing into law AB 291, a comprehensive gun safety bill that establishes an extreme risk protection order, bans bump stocks, and prevents children from getting their hands on an unsecured firearm.
Coupled with Governor Steve Sisolak’s signing of a background check bill earlier this year, the Nevada legislature has made stronger gun laws a priority for the first time since the Las Vegas mass shooting, the worst in modern American history that left 58 people dead and injured more than 800.
Statement from former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, co-founder of Giffords:
“In states across the country, momentum is building towards safer gun laws. Nevada is the latest state where the voices of people demanding lawmakers take action to protect them were finally heard. This state capitol was once dominated by gun lobbyists who used power to buy politicians’ silence, even in the face of unimaginable tragedies like the one that happened at the Route 91 Harvest music festival on October 1, 2017. The new legislature and governor that came to office last November were inspired by steadfast leaders like Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, a survivor of the Las Vegas attack herself, and took swift action to pass commonsense, comprehensive legislation to keep guns out of dangerous hands. This victory for gun safety is an illustration of the power voters have when they come together to demand change. It proves that a safer future is possible.”
Statement from Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, sponsor of AB 291:
“For over ten weeks, I worked with stakeholders and community groups to develop and pass the most comprehensive gun safety legislation in Nevada history. At the same moment that my 1 October Bill – AB291 – was getting final approval by the Nevada Senate, a disgruntled individual went on a 10-minute shooting rampage in Virginia Beach, VA. The largest mass shooting of the year took the lives of 12 people, left several others seriously wounded and victimized hundreds of others. Ten weeks to save lives, ten minutes to take them. We’ll never be able to go back and protect those who have been taken from us because of gun violence, but because of the actions that we took in Nevada we are making our communities a safer place.”
Route 91 shooting survivor Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui sponsored AB 291. Known as the 1 October bill, the legislation addresses the use of bump stocks, establishes a process to obtain an extreme risk protection order, and includes the language from AB 153, Brooklyn’s Law, originally introduced by Representative Ozzie Fumo, which strengthens the state’s child access prevention laws.
Key Gun Safety Policies in AB 291
Banning modifications like bump stocks is a key element of the bill to address the 1October mass shooting. Bump stocks are specialized rifle stocks that allow shooters to simulate automatic fire without compromising accuracy. Bump stocks allow a person to hold a finger steady, and simply “bump” the gun against his or her shoulder back into the trigger. The person does not have to pull the trigger each time. Bump firing is the act of using the recoil of a semi-automatic firearm to fire shots in rapid succession to simulate a fully automatic rate of fire.
Extreme risk protection orders, also known as extreme risk laws, create a civil court order, issued by a judge upon consideration of evidence provided by a family member or law enforcement officer, that temporarily prohibits a person in crisis from possessing or purchasing firearms. A common thread in many shootings is that family members of the shooters had noticed their loved ones engaging in dangerous behaviors and were concerned about their risk of harming themselves or others—even before any violence occurred.
A Child Access Prevention (CAP) law, originally introduced by Assemblymembers Ozzie Fumo, Shannon Billbray-Axelrod, and Alexander Assefa in AB 153 earlier this session, would create criminal liability for individuals who negligently store or leave a firearm in a location under their control when they know there is a “substantial risk” that an unauthorized child could gain access to the firearm. This would help to strengthen Nevada’s CAP laws by expanding their coverage to include negligent storage. This measure is called “Brooklyn’s Law” based on a tragic accident where a 13-year-old was killed by her friend when they found an unlocked gun in the kitchen.
Prior to the Las Vegas massacre, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence uncovered that the cost of gun violence to the state was $2.3 billion alone. In a new report released a year after the mass shooting , Giffords Law Center found the cost increased by 26 percent alone and highlighted how victims, businesses, and Las Vegas residents continue to struggle under the economic burden of our nation’s deadliest mass shooting.
Earlier this year, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak signed S.B. 143, a bill establishing background checks in the state. In its latest edition of the Annual Gun Law Scorecard , Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence found that Nevada received a “D.”