The Great Nevada Gun Grab

A Lawmaker’s Guide to Infringement

The Nevada Legislature, in its infinite wisdom, has decided once more to whittle away at that little phrase “shall not be infringed,” as though it were a mere suggestion rather than the unambiguous command of the Constitution.

First up on the chopping block is Assembly Bill 105, a noble effort to protect voters from the unspeakable horror of seeing a firearm within 100 feet of an election site. In its graciousness, the bill allows a gun to still exist in the home or vehicle, provided it is sufficiently cowed and lacks any intention of use. Violation shall result in a gross misdemeanor—unless the offender knowingly violates it, in which case the full force of the law shall descend upon them in the form of a category D felony.

Next, we have AB245, which proposes that any citizen under the age of 21 is too feeble of mind to be trusted with a semiautomatic rifle or shotgun. It further ensures that should any adult permit such a wayward youth to possess one–they’ll be guilty of a misdemeanor, or worse, a felony, should the young miscreant dare to commit violence. The punishments, naturally, escalate with repeated offenses, as all good and righteous prohibitions do.

Rounding out the parade of prudence, Senate Bill 89 extends firearm restrictions for those convicted of hate crimes—because those who have already demonstrated a disregard for the law will find deterrence in more regulation. However, those damned in the Court of Law before the bill’s passage may breathe easy, for their past sins are, for now, overlooked.

Meanwhile, in the hallowed halls of the Supreme Court, the justices have upheld a regulation on those devilish specters known as “ghost guns”—firearms so nefarious that they require neither serial number nor registry to exist. In a remarkable display of logic, Justice Gorsuch noted that while “some home hobbyists enjoy assembling them,” criminals, in their boundless ingenuity, also find them appealing. The Court has decreed that these ghostly weapons must now bear serial numbers, and their buyers must get scrutinized, lest they exercise their right to self-defense without proper government oversight.

The number of ghost guns recovered at crime scenes has skyrocketed, say the experts, from a paltry 1,700 in 2017 to a positively apocalyptic 27,000 in 2023. One must wonder if criminals, ever known for their fastidious obedience to gun laws, will now simply abandon their wicked ways in the face of this latest bureaucratic decree.

And so, dear reader, the work continues. The law-abiding citizen must get corralled, scrutinized, and deprived of their rights piecemeal, while those who ignore the laws shall continue to do so with impunity. The grand tradition of legislative folly marches on, each bill another proud brick in the road to well-intentioned tyranny.