Thanks Nevada for making California safer
After last Tuesday’s election, Californians have gotten a bit safer from gun violence. It had a little to do with the initiative that requires background checks on those who buy ammunition; it had a great deal more to do with a proposition that voters on other side of Sierra embraced.
By a 9,901-vote margin – yes, voting matters – Nevada wisely approved full background checks for gun buyers, Measure 1. For that, we Californians offer a heartfelt thank-you to Silver State voters, and people such as retired Las Vegas elementary school principal Sue Brooks. She helped organize support for Measure 1, and saw it pass before her death Sunday.
As described by the Las Vegas Sun, Brooks was among the first to respond to Shannon Watts, who reacted to the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary School by starting what became Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. The Sun quotes Watts as saying Brooks was personally responsible for persuading at least 9,901 people to support Measure 1.
Billionaire and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the group he founded, Everytown for Gun Safety, provided most of the $19.7 million to pass the measure.
The National Rifle Association funded the opposition with $6.5 million. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval and Attorney General Adam Laxalt, both Republicans, opposed the initiative, as did the Nevada Republican Party.
A year ago, Gov. Jerry Brown stirred up Sandoval and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey when he pointed out – accurately – that their states’ lenient gun laws created “a gigantic back door through which any terrorist can walk.”
Brown added: “California has some of the toughest gun control laws of any state. And Nevada and Arizona are wide open.”
Sandoval’s spokeswoman denounced Brown’s remarks as “irresponsible.” They weren’t.
Ducey demanded Brown “retract his incredibly thoughtless and ill-advised comments.” Brown didn’t.
His remarks, in fact, were spot-on. It was those other governors who should be retracting comments.
To understand the significance of Nevada’s Measure 1, look at the federal indictment unveiled earlier this month in Fresno aimed at the Strother Boys street gang. Federal, state and local law enforcement arrested three dozen people on federal and state charges. Though full details aren’t yet public, part of the case involves illegal private gun sales to people who had criminal records and so were not legally entitled to own guns.
And at least some of the weapons were brought in from Arizona, a state with some of the loosest gun laws in the nation, and Nevada, which, until 558,586 voters took the responsible path, did not require universal background checks for private gun sales. Fresno criminals were able to freely buy guns in those states, then sell them to other criminals who then used them to commit crimes in California.
We fully understand that criminals will find ways to get guns. But states shouldn’t make it easy.
In fact, guns should carry the same protections that many cellphones carry – digital locks so that only owners can fire them (the technology has been available for a decade). States should insist that all gun sellers, including those selling at gun shows or over the internet, check to make certain the buyers aren’t felons, domestic abusers or people with a history of mental illness.
Thanks to Nevada voters, an elementary school principal and a billionaire, the Silver State has taken one of those steps. Now it’s Arizona’s turn, for the safety of its citizens and ours.
This story was originally published November 17, 2016 at 11:00 AM with the headline "Thanks Nevada for making California safer."