UPDATE: As of 4/1/2020, Metro is now allowing CCW classes to continue with social distancing. Las Vegas Metro PD is now accepting online CCW applications through it's new "ECCW" process. What changed? Instead of bringing the hard copy form down to the records bureau at headquarters, you can electronically submit the form using a web page (like many other online forms you've filled out). You then attach scans of your identification and approved certificate from your instructor. You will then receive an email if your application was complete, incomplete, or was denied. Then you are given a link to pay online within 30 days. After that, you are scheduled for a fingerprint appointment. Per NV Shoot & Train, Metro's current estimate is that fingerprinting will resume April 27, subject to change. This step is a revolutionary one in Nevada's most populous county and with the department that issues the most permits in the state. It will make the application process less cumbersome for users who no longer have to do the two-step process of submitting the application and paying, then waiting on the bench with the strippers and sex offenders for fingerprinting. I date to say it will speed up issuance time (less work on processing applications means more applications get processed) but from the backlog alone the COVID crisis has caused will result in 120 day approval times. You thought after Sandy Hook in 2013 was a long wait? If only Nevada was like Utah and kept the fingerprints on file, they could be approved in days. Ban on Classes, Fly in the OintmentUPDATE: As of 4/1/2020, Metro is now allowing CCW classes to continue with social distancing. Metro took a huge step of essentially banning any CCW instruction in Clark County by saying it will not accept any classes taken during the state of emergency. No other county in Nevada has done this. Some counties have stopped accepting applications as their lobbies have closed to the public, but none have gone so far as to outright ban the taking of classes. ![]() As you can see from the attached screenshot, Metro's Special Investigations Section (SIS) unilaterally determined that CCW training is not an "essential business" under the governor's order. Does that mean that LVMPD now supports average citizens openly carrying? Metro will not accept any CCW permits dated from 3/24/2020 to whenever they deem it appropriate for classes to continue. If you have not taken the class for a permit yet, this applies to you. Metro's decision will be Exhibit 1 in getting rid of concealed carry in Nevada once and for all. We'll hang it around their necks. Metro is making this decision because the law arguably gives the sheriff the right to certify instructors and accept their certificates. Metro is saying "no classes" because it can. It can't actually stop the classes, but it can waste everyone's time and money. This was a monumentally stupid decision that will haunt their agency for years to come. They don't want people to get trained on how to safely use and carry a firearm. Concealed carry classes are sometimes the only formal firearms training people get. In this time of panic and fear, shouldn't people be getting quality training on when you can legally shoot someone and how not to have an accident with a gun? Did any of the f---tards on MLK Blvd. actually think about this decision? Metro basically said, "Yeah, let's leave it to Google for people to figure out how to own and carry a gun legally. That's a brilliant idea!" Look at how the request is worded (see original article). "Need to stop immediately." Right to association much? Did anyone think that an alternative like, classes of 8 students and 1 instructor? Maybe? As I wrote earlier, there is the assertion that concealed carry is a privilege and not a right, which anyone knows is horseshit. Concealed carry permits are an easy way for cops to bust people with guns they want to arrest. Police have traditionally chafed at removing concealed carry restrictions because it means if they find a guy who fails the "duck test" of being a criminal, but they can't find anything to arrest him for, they have to let him go. I've been in the situation where you know a guy is "dirty" and you can't prove it. Finding a gun on him cements the deal and he goes away for a CCW charge. Yet for all the idiot criminals you catch carrying illegally, a lot of the time they're prohibited persons anyway and/or you had PC to arrest them for something else entirely and the gun was just a cherry on top. The concealed carry laws put people at risk because Mom will put a gun in her purse, but won't strap on a hogleg. Dad just wants to keep his family safe, but he's not comfortable letting people know he's armed. Most people prefer to carry concealed and laws restricting that right to a permit are unconstitutional. As I've pointed out on this blog, concealed carry was a failed experiment at getting people to carry guns 150-200 years ago. So cool your jets before you get excited. If you haven't had the class already, you're stuck waiting until Metro unf--ks itself and stops denying people the ability to take a training class. A training class to get a permit to exercise a constitutional right. Yes, a pandemic is serious business but it's no reason to treat the Constitution as toilet paper. Douglas County Sheriff CCW Application Not Available Online; Site Broken, Not a Conspiracy3/27/2020
The Douglas County Sheriff's website forms page no longer links to its CCW application. Forms for approve CCW instructors, CCW change information forms, and instructor certificates, etc. were accessible. I checked the last image of the website on Archive.org (crawled 9/08/2019), but the form page apparently had not been crawled, so there was no way to tell if the error has been persisting for some time. However, in the past few months prior to the COVID gun panic, the webmaster would likely have corrected any missing form from the website. I called and spoke with the Records department. They are in the process of updating the website and as part of the update the particular link broke. And then the panic happened. They can send email out the form if you call them. So it's not a conspiracy. However, the current shut downs and precautions may limit application submission. A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation tested positive for the coronavirus. This resulted in a delay of background checks in the Volunteer State. Here in Nevada, an air traffic controller at McCarran Airport tested positive and the control tower was shut down for days (it may be still shut down). New York ATC closed for a time and for cleaning overnight due to a controller testing positive. If they can close whole international airports, some of the busiest in the country, they can close background check centers. Any such closure wouldn't be permanent. The state would probably institute some work from home status or clean the office and re-open, but, there would be plenty of delays. One thing the Dept. of Public Safety could do is farm out the background checks to local law enforcement and just act as the clearing house, but that would expect someone in government to think. I'd bet that DPS leadership could care less if you own a gun. Groups of 10 or More ProhibitedGov. Sisolak has banned groups of 10 or more from gathering. The actual details are unavailable because the order has not been made publicly available yet. The gov.nv.gov page for Emergency Directives does not seem to be updated in any haste. So from now on, it's illegal to have more than 9 people in a group, excluding members of the same household. The Governor's Facebook page said this, without a link to the actual order. Today I signed an emergency directive prohibiting gatherings of groups of 10 or more in any indoor or outdoor public area to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. This does not apply to those in the same household or services or patronizing related to an essential business. This is what the Review-Journal said: The governor said the restriction on under-10 group size includes indoor and outdoor public spaces such as social clubs, parks, libraries, parking lots, playgrounds and sports fields. Members of the same household are exempt from the restriction. It remains to be seen if police will enforce this. Probably not, unless you make it really obvious and are obstinate about dispersing. Questions about the constitutionality of infringing on the right to peaceably assemble come into question. What if there are multiple groups of nine, each member of the group six feet apart, and the groups are spaced 20 feet from each other? Does this apply to churches? Does this apply to lawful protests? These orders are too unclear and it has to be questioned what the risk is of people catching the infection in open air if proper distances are maintained. Sisolak Restricts Chloroquine PrescriptionsUPDATE: The governor said on Twitter "This regulation DOES NOT prohibit prescription of these drugs for inpatient treatment. In other words, if a doctor in a hospital or emergency room setting wants to prescribe these drugs to treat a patient diagnosed with COVID-19, he or she is still free to do so." Slow, sarcastic clap for the poor communication and terribly written order. UPDATE: This prohibits use for COVID-19 patients. Here is the actual order and proposal. If it turns out that chloroquine is safe and works to treat the infection, blood will be on the hands of these doctors and Sisolak for denying them life saving treatment. I hope doctors and pharmacists ignore this order. Gov. Sisolak has signed a public health order restricting prescriptions of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug touted by many doctors and President Trump as effective in treating COVID-19. The federal government is allowing use of the drug on an experimental basis in compassionate use. The drug is also used regularly to treat lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and other medical issues. It appears the order allows the drug to be prescribed in hospital settings and is intended to prevent doctors from writing prescriptions to hoard it for anticipated future COVID cases. The concern is that doctors will write scripts to patients who want to have the drugs on hand "just in case" and the state wants to keep them for those who legitimately need the drugs. Of course, this drug has to be prescribed by a doctor as it's not available over the counter. Here is the actual press release from Nevada Health Response. While the drugs serve necessary medical purposes, there is no consensus among COVID-19 experts or Nevada’s own medical health advisory team that the two drugs provide treatment for COVID-19 patients. The emergency regulation is aimed at preventing hoarding of the drugs. [...] As the Las Vegas Sun put it: Nevada’s governor has signed an emergency order barring the use of anti-malaria drugs for someone who has the coronavirus. However, the Reno Gazette-Journal said it was not a total ban: The order is not an absolute ban. Doctors in hospitals and emergency rooms can still prescribe these drugs to treat a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 if they so choose. The drugs will be restricted in outpatient settings to prevent hoarding. ![]() The Dept. of Public Safety Firearms Unit has stepped up! Praise given where it is due. NV Firearms & Training Reports that as of 3/24, DPS has moved additional staff from other units into the Point of Contact center to help clear background checks. The bad news is the backlog is so deep that it will take days to clear the checks. Everyone is automatically being given a three-day delay to allow DPS time to run the check, but that is AFTER the call is made (still having the same issues with excessive hold times). Las Vegas Shooting Center was recently contacted by authorities to shut down. Luckily, they had a copy of NRS 415.155 and knew that the state cannot regulate the "use" of firearms. With proper social distancing protocols and sanitation, infection should not be an issue. Whether or not you agree with an indoor range being open at this time, it's good to see someone pushing back. Taken from a post on a local gun forum: A Lieutenant from Code Enforcement and the Clark County business license folks just showed up to Las Vegas Shooting Center to shut us down, I believe. As far as whether or not certain business should be open or closed, that's a debate that needs to be based on scientific evidence on the nature of transmission, not an arbitrary government decree. The debate on the extent of the government's powers in this crisis needs to be debated and questioned. So far, very few are willing to do that. ![]() Las Vegas Metro Police sent notice to all CCW instructors that the instructors must immediately cease all courses and qualifications. Metro will honor certificates from classes completed prior to this notice and will notify instructors when they may with Metro's permission resume teaching classes. Presumably this has to do with social distancing and keeping classes to small sizes. There is nothing wrong with having a small, private class of say half-a-dozen. Or allowing tele-instruction except for the shoot portion. This decree seems to ignore the fact that many instructors have moved to small group private lessons where social distancing can be maintained. Metro has not offered any alternatives or seems to have applied any rational basis to this decision. The lack of an end date does not seem to pass constitutional muster. First, Nevada's firearm emergency regulation preemption law, NRS 415.155, is vague in that it prohibits restrictions on the "use" of firearms. While the intent of the section was to prevent firearm confiscation as happened in New Orleans after Katrina, it is disturbing to see the government effectively denying people the ability to obtain and renew concealed firearm permits. Now Metro would certainly argue (as the courts and government as a whole) tongue-in-cheek, that concealed carry is a privilege and that open carry is the constitutionally protected form of carry. Of course, the police and government don't want people to carry openly and given their druthers would have people be armed only by permit. In this state's history, many municipalities have regulated all forms of carry. Most people prefer to carry concealed, so denying new gun owners and renewing permittees the ability to legally carry concealed results in a de facto denial of the right to carry. Yet the government and courts have long ignored the social choices and reasoning for citizens to conceal their firearms, instead continuing on a campaign of 200 years to demonize carrying a gun, doubly so under clothing. A good lawyer would argue on appeal that if his client was unable to apply for or obtain a permit, then any charges of carrying concealed without a permit should be dismissed. I would not advocate anyone carry concealed without a permit at this time. Carry openly in a good holster, keep your head on a swivel, and join the fight for gun rights. This order doesn't apply to gun safety training. That would be impossible to regulate as the class could move to the desert or be done under the nose of police (or privately in homes. Metro is relying on the fact that instructors must date the certificates and applications for their trainees and will just deny the applications in between today and whenever, nullifying the training. There is no word as to whether or not Metro will issue temporary permits to people due renewals as some counties have (Lincoln County declared a blanket extension in the country). Because of the inability for many people to obtain permits, or even be trained during this "downtime," (and the bit about people preferring concealed carry above) this is tantamount to a denial of the right to bear arms. This crisis has demonstrated a vast over-reach of the government in many arenas and is a perfect example of why gun control must go. From here forward, gun owners new and veteran must work together to make Nevada (and all states) a permit-free state. And to Metro and all sheriffs, this incident will be Exhibit 1 in the movement to abolish the permission slips for concealed carry. NEVADA FIREARMS COALITION March 24, 2020 Mr. Eric Spratley, Executive Director Nevada Sheriffs' and Chiefs' Association Re: Nevada Revised Statute Dear Director. Spratley: Due to Governor Sisolak’s emergency 30-day closure of State of Nevada and other offices and businesses, code enforcement and law enforcement officers have been tasked to ensure “non essential business” terminate their operations. In order to avoid complaints and legal actions against enforcement efforts that are closing operations of firearms and ammunition retailers, we request that you provide the following to the members of the Nevada Sheriff and Chief Association. What do nudists and non-gun owners have in common? They're both pretty vulnerable. Right now, we are seeing the effects of unpreparedness. Facing a time of major fear, uncertainty, and doubt, people are stockpiling food, toiletries, guns, and ammo. This is a normal human reaction in times of crisis. If facing a dearth of food, we store some to guarantee we can make it through the figurative winter. We don't have to worry about where our next meal is coming from or having to make desperate choices to avoid starvation (or wiping with socks). But having a stockpile means it has to be protected. Even if you don't have a lot of stuff to protect, you still have the lives of yourself and you loved ones. Like storing up for winter and seeds for spring, guns and ammo are a way not only to preserve what we have, but are a comfort against uncertainty. A man with a gun can make his own way. Many times, this has been used for evil, especially in times of tribulation. There are lots of maxims about how to stop bad guys with guns, but the fact remains that an armed man is able to do something to protect himself. Sure, man has been using other weapons and brute strength to resist (and do) evil since time immemorial, but in the time of firearms, guns lengthen and strengthen our sphere of defense in a way no other weapon can. (Guns also don't have the same collateral damage as flamethrowers). Guns are the great equalizer. They make weak men strong and put a woman on the same level as a man. One man with a gun is mightier than many men without guns, or even men with guns, if the good knows how to use his weapon. An armed man doesn't have to fear crime the same way an unarmed man does. A burglary does not pit the armed man at the mercy of the thief. This fact is something that most of us are aware of, whether or not we recognize it. The panic buying of guns and ammo is the manifestation of societies recognition of this truth. Life isn't all sunshine and lollipops that the past century or so has been for America. Guns were always a back-burner item for most people. Probably good to have, but in the age of police, peace, and prosperity, not a necessity. Too many people bought the lies that the anti-gun hoplopaths spewed too. Now Californians are waking up to the ugly truth that the laws that were sold to them through fraudulent means applies to them in their hour of need. Nevadans are learning that the vaunted ban of private gun sales has left them at the mercy of a crippled state background check system. These scared people need to learn their lesson from this event. After the 1992 LA Riots, many people bought guns, only to get rid of them as the years went by without a repeat in violence. Crime and murder dropped in dramatic lows across the state. Now many of those same people, or their kids, are lining up at gun stores across the Golden State that are under threat of closure as "non-essential." Will the people of today learn that they need to keep their gun, store ammo when it's cheap and easy to get, train and practice with their gun? Only time will tell. |
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