Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) signed universal background checks into law on Friday.
The checks mean that a neighbor cannot sell a gun to a neighbor without getting government permission via a background check. It also means that a friend cannot sell a gun to a lifelong friend without government permission.
Sisolak spoke about universal background checks as he signed the bill. The Las Vegas Sun quoted him saying:
The bill I’m about to sign is a long-overdue, common-sense measure that will make Nevada safer and has the power to save lives from gun violence. We have already lost too many lives across the country to guns. With this bill, we are taking an important step to address the nationwide public health crisis that is gun violence, and we are making our children and families safer here at home by making it harder for potentially dangerous individuals to access a firearm.
While the universal background checks would criminalize private citizens for selling a gun to another private citizen without government permission, it would not have prevented the October 1, 2017, Las Vegas shooting because the attacker passed background checks for all of his firearms.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.