(The Center Square) — After passing along party lines, a bill to raise the age for buying semi-automatic guns heads to Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo’s desk for what could be a veto.
Assembly Bill 245 would raise the minimum purchasing age of assault rifles and semi-automatic shotguns to 21 from 18. Despite its passage, the bill looks unlikely to become law because Lombardo vetoed a similar bill in 2023.
“We have seen far too many shootings from people who are under 21, who get their hands on assault rifles and go out and kill,” said Assemblymember Sandra Jauregui, D-Clark County, who introduced the bill, at a March joint meeting of the Senate and Assembly judiciary committees.
“2012, Sandy Hook, Connecticut – 26 dead, two injured; 2018, Parkland, Florida – 17 dead and 17 injured … 2022, Uvalde, Texas, Abbot Elementary – 21 dead, 18 injured,” Jauregui said. “All of these horrific events that took place were committed by individuals under the age of 21.”
Research by gun control advocates Everytown for Gun Safety found that 18- to 20-year-olds commit gun homicide at three times the rate of people over 21.
Nearly half of Nevadan households own a gun, with close to 120,000 gun owner licenses in the state. Over two-thirds of Nevadans supported raising the minimum age for shotgun and long gun purchases from 18-years-old to 21-years-old in a 2023 poll. The survey also found that 55% of Nevada Republicans wanted the age increase and 70% of parents.
The 2023 poll came out shortly before an earlier version of the assault rifle and semi-automatic shotgun age restriction bill, AB 355, was passed by the Democratic controlled Senate.
But the 2023 bill never made it off Lombardo’s desk. The lifelong National Rifle Association member is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights. “Joe knows that an important part of keeping our communities safe is protecting the Second Amendment,” read his campaign website.
Assemblymember Jauregui, who introduced both the 2023 bill and most recent AB 245, is an advocate for more gun regulations. She points to her survival of the Oct. 1, 2017 Las Vegas Strip mass shooting as a reason for her stance.
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“Eight years later, and I no longer feel guilty to smile and to say good morning, good afternoon, or to say hello to people as I pass by them, to laugh at a joke, to feel joy and to be myself,” said Assemblymember Jauregui at the Judiciary Committee hearing. “Although I may never be as lighthearted, as jovial and as carefree as I once was… I have a new fight to never give up, to make our communities safer. To take action, the kind of action that turns grief into positive change.”
Lombardo was the Clark County sheriff when the Las Vegas Strip mass shooting that killed 60 and injured nearly 500 people happened. The shooter, Stephen Paddock, was 64-years-old and would not have been affected by the age restriction.