Here is a copy of what I sent.
TBG
Mayor Andy Hafen
Council Members Gerri Schroder, Debra March, John Marz, Sam Bateman
Henderson City Hall
POB 95050
Henderson NV 89009-5050
Dear Mayor and Council Members,
I have been in contact with the City Attorney’s office concerning outdated firearms ordinances
still on the books and in some cases still being enforced. Assistant City Attorney Robert Zentz
has let me know that our new City Attorney Josh Reid has instructed his office to examine all
city ordinances and review them as to any modifications or deletions needed. Unfortunately
there are ordinances still on the books that are in direct violation of state law and are still
being enforced.
As you know in 1989 and then again in 2007, the Nevada State Legislature took full pre-emption
of firearms laws within the state. The only exceptions they allowed were discharge of firearms
and handgun registration within Clark County.
Under SB-92, passed in 2007, all local ordinances not in compliance with state law were given a
set time to be modified or removed. The City of Henderson did not modify the handgun registration
ordinance, HMC 8.98.030, so therefore it is null and void.
Henderson Municipal code 8.98.030 reads:
It is unlawful for any person to own or have in his possession a gun, pistol, revolver or other
firearm capable of being concealed without first having registered it with the chief of police.
In order for this ordinance to be valid, state mandated language as directed by SB-92, would need
to have been added, stating that a resident has 72 hours upon Purchasing or bringing a handgun into
the jurisdiction to get it registered. It further would have needed to contain language stating that
anyone moving into or remaining in the jurisdiction for more than 60 days would have to register their
handguns. As you can see it contains neither. The registration would have to be with the Henderson
Chief of Police, not the Sheriff, and he would therefore have to be the holder of those records.
At some point a decision was made to have the Henderson Police Department register firearms under
County Ordinance 12.04.110 commonly referred to as the “Blue Card registration”. I have asked the
City Attorney’s office how the Chief of Police of the City of Henderson would have had the authority
to abrogate that responsibility under HMC 8.98.030 to the county? As an incorporated city, Henderson
is not required to conduct registration for the county nor is it subject to county ordinances within
the incorporated city. A.C.A. Zentz did not directly answer this question.
As Boulder City and Mesquite were incorporated cities at the time of pre-emption and did not have a registration ordinance in force
at the time, the citizens of those cities have never been required to register their firearms. As the Henderson code is no longer valid,
and has not been for some time, its citizens are not required to register either.
The cost to the County to administer the Blue Card program is in the neighborhood of two million dollars
a year, and it has registered in excess of 1.1 million handguns since 1973. The Sheriff has been unable
to point to one single crime solved because of it in the past sixty plus years. He has been asked this
by citizen groups as well as past Commission Chair Rory Reid and Commission MemberTom Collins.
In light of this I have researched the cost of this program to the City of Henderson and have been in
contact with Acting Captain Dane Matoon of the Henderson Police Department. With the information obtained
in that search I have estimated that the cost to the City of Henderson is in the area of $150,000.00 per
year. As with the Sheriff, the Henderson Police Department is unable to show any cost/benefit to the
people of Henderson. Why would it? Only honest citizens follow the law. Criminals don’t
register.
In these hard economic times it just does not make sense to continue a program that is sixty plus years
old, and at a tremendous cost, has shown absolutely no proof that it has been a benefit to the citizens
of the City of Henderson. This on top of the fact that it is unenforceable under Nevada Statutes.
I strongly urge the City Council to move quickly on stopping this unenforceable waste before it ends up
in litigation. The citizens of this city deserve to have their limited resources used more wisely. As the
patrol officers of this city have had to give up cost of living raises in the next two years, it is
ridiculous to spend this kind of money on an illegal and useless program. I for one would rather have
another cop on the street.
Respectfully
Cc: Josh M. Reid C.A; Jacob Snow C.M; Patrick E. Moers C of P
