AB 291 Passes into Law; Red Flag Gun Confiscation Cometh

​AB 291, “red flag” gun confiscation goes has passed into law. This is Sandra Jauregui “my feelings are more important than your rights” kitchen sink anti-gun bill.
 
Despite all his brave talk about banning this or that, Gov. Sisolak, ever the slimy politician he is, allowed AB 291 to become law without his signature. Bump fire bans, lowering the threshold for self-defense while in a bar or restaurant, and allowing vindictive relatives to order your guns taken are destined for the law books.
 
Nevada’s constitution is the opposite of the federal system; if bills are not vetoed by the governor, they become law. We do not have a pocket veto. Thus Sisolak can claim he did not sign the bill when he runs for re-election in 2022. Hopefully Nevada gun owners are not that stupid.
 
Effective immediately, it is illegal to possess a “bump fire” stock or device—the Legislature has unconstitutionally declared property that many Nevadans possess to be contraband and has not provided for proper compensation. This is an uncompensated taking raising issues under the 14th Amendment. The legal issue is being played out at the federal level, where President Trump ordered the ATF to ban bump fire stocks by fiat, so this section is moot.
 
Red flag laws and the lowering of the threshold for the amount of allowable alcohol in one’s system while in possession of a firearm in public to .08 BAC from .10 take effect Jan. 1, 2020.
 
The 80th Legislature of 2019 was a dumpster fire. It was mitigated by huge outpouring of opposition by gun rights supporters and the NSSF’s threat to move Shot Show from Las Vegas. The unions and casinos saw how much money they would lose and forced the Senate to remove the truly atrocious repeal of state preemption of local gun laws.
 
As we know SB 120’s “red flag” law got rolled into AB 291, which was exempted from deadlines after the fact, to allow the practically bribed hoplopaths in Carson City to bring home a win for their Bloomberg bucks.
 
Thanks to the tireless work of pro-gun activists, lobbyists, and Republicans in our Legislature, the really bad stuff was taken out. “Red flag” gun violence restraining orders (GVROs) are terrible laws, poorly executed, and destined for abuse from a tyrannical government, but we could have had worse. Among some of the wins are (from the final text):
 

• One must be in a current dating or ongoing intimate relationship, not a former boyfriend/girlfriend. “Resided with an adverse party within the past year,” was removed, meaning that vindictive ex can’t use this against you.
• Removed the “catch all” language that applied a host of behavior, some innocuous as buying a gun in the last six months, or as ominously open-ended as “any other conduct or acts as the court considers.”
• To use the recent purchase of a gun against you, you must have also engage in some other “high risk behavior” or be threat to yourself or another (from mental health hold language). Merely buying a gun cannot be held against you unless you’re violent, crazy, or someone lies.
• The sections about “reckless use, display or brandishing of a firearm” that could be used against open carries has been removed.

 
Problems:
Law enforcement must have probable cause, but civilians must have reasonable suspicion. Can the court, under the Fourth Amendment, take a person’s property based on something other than probable cause (assuming the judge cannot articulate PC themselves)?
 
If you haven’t seen this coming and given your guns to a trusted friend or relative by now, you don’t have the option to give the guns to a friend, relative, or firearms dealer unless the judge allows you to.
 
It is only a misdemeanor to file a malicious false application (or for someone having their guns confiscated to violate the order itself).
 
The good thing about these bills is that abuse by law enforcement makes a ripe challenge to throw laws like these out, or restrict their application, under the Bill of Rights. At some point, the wrong innocent person will win a great legal victory. Also, my colleagues in California law enforcement (from reasonable counties) have reported that use of these “red flag” laws are far and few in between, applied to the real fruitcakes out there.
 
Even so, the potential for abuse is a huge problem. It is foreseeable that these will be eventually used to harass and persecute gun owners, not only by the government, but by the rabid anti-gun populace and leftists in the coming cultural civil war. For now, be thankful for principled legislators that fixed the worst-of-the worst of this bill and that we have honorable law enforcement officers who are more pro-gun than you know.
 
But be ever on the watch. We must win back Republican seats in 2020 to stop our legislature from being dominated by anti-gun Democrats getting campaign donations from Gun Control Inc. that essentially amount to bribes.