imported post
I echo SakeNeko's comments about rural Nevada seems to be much more tolerant than southern Nevada, namely Clark County. But there have been some incidents in Reno too. I think the you would be very USEFUL if you winded up close to either Reno or Las Vegas.
Here in Las Vegas, there are a number of issues:
Local government observance of preemption (NRS 244.364, NRS 268.418, NRS 269.222) - Parks are posted (Clark County Code (CCC) 19.04.060), etc.
Clark County firearm registration (CCC 12.04.110, CCC 12.04.200) - Where do I start? First of all, it's allowed under preemption, but it's a registration, and we'd obviously like to see it go. But second, local law enforcement seems to OVER-enforce this ordinance. Registration is required only of residents of Clark County but LE wants to enforce it on visitors too. A registration "blue card" is issued but is not required to be carried with the gun, yet LE almost always demands it be presented, and threatens the citizen if it's not.
State law allows public buildings (government) to restrict concealed weapons inside buildings (NRS 202.3673). This prohibition does not apply to non-concealed weapons, i.e. OC. But that doesn't stop certain public buildings from trying to ban all weapons in violation of preemption. For example, the Clark County Library (1401 E Flamingo, Las Vegas, NV 89119) posts all public entrances that (paraphrasing) "All weapons...(concealed or open)...(with or without a permit)...are prohibited and violators will be prosecuted." We need to force this issue.
LE still stops OC'ers regularly. The Las Vegas Metro PD, which patrols the City of Las Vegas, and the entire unincorporated Clark County, is undergoing mandatory training the OC alone is not enough to stop a person. And although they are the largest police department in Southern NV by far, that still leaves 5 other departments that have not been trained specifically on OC - BCPD, CCPP, HPD, NHP, NLVPD - leaving open the possibility of an encounter with one of their officers, not to mention a LVMPD officer whose training hasn't quite sunk in.
LE unofficial procedure when a gun is encountered, even in lawful stops, needs work. There is nothing official that I can find. During a stop, LE confiscates a weapon, runs the serial number to check it's status, if it checks out OK, removes the magazine and chambered round, unloads every round from the magazine, and returns the ammo, magazine, and firearm separately. If a LE temporarily seizes a weapon for officer safety reasons, that does not give them authority to check the serial number, but they do so anyway. They unload (search) the magazine. In one recent encounter, I was interrogated about the type of ammunition I carry. I did not authorize the search and the police did not have a warrant or other lawful authority to conduct the search. Removing ammunition from a magazine goes way beyond the scope of officer safety. LVMPD has shown it's professionalism by offering a mandatory training to officers on the topic of Open Carry. We need to help them get to the next level and establish proper procedures for handling the firearms of citizens while maintaining officer safety.
There are other issues, but this is just off the top of my head as to what I think are the important ones. There's a lot of work, and while we did get together as a group for a litter pickup, we have not managed to come together again since. Aside from the issues above that need to be fought, one major thing we could benefit from is some help organizing. I'd like to see us all get together regularly, but like anything else there are details which seem to dog me every time I think about trying to setup a get-together. When? Where (parks, for the time being, are off limits)? How (alert LE of our intended peaceful get together or not)? etc.
The Nevada Shooters is a well-organized local group with a lot of members, but some of their members are anti-OC (they do offer sound, persuasive logic to support their position), and there's been some tension between groups, which it would be useful to try to work through.
Finally, I started to create the NV Citizen Defense League (NVCDL) and have a business license and web site, but never had the time to get it officially off the ground and apply for 501.3(c) status. If you have any experience with this (VA and AZ both have effective CDLs already), it would be very cool to get this off the ground and have a non-profit setup. Among other things, it would be the best way for us to setup legal defense funds for any wrongly accused and/or members victimized by abuse police.
So yes, your help would be very welcomed here in Nevada!
