As many of you have been made aware, as of today, Tuesday, July 1, all Nevada CCW permits will no longer qualify as an alternative to a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) through the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This action is a result of Nevada's loss of exemption due to an audit conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) in 2004 which uncovered a number of Brady Law violations.
In 2006, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was reached between BATFE and all seventeen of Nevada sheriffs. The MOU specifically addressed the absence of a Nevada law requiring NICS checks to be conducted by all county sheriffs before issuing renewal CCW permits to include a check of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) databases for applicants who are not citizens of the United States. During the 2007 legislative session, a measure was introduced to fulfill the MOU agreement but fell victim to political wrangling over permit fee increases and the bill died when the Governor pledged to veto a fee increase of any kind, despite agreements worked out between the interested parties.
As a result, no legislative fix was passed to correct the audit deficiency and in May of 2008, BATFE issued another edict fulfilling their promise that all Nevada FFL's eliminate Nevada CCW permittees’ NICS exemption effective July 1, 2008.
NRA has recently learned that the Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association (NVSCA) will be discussing the possibility of asking BATFE for another audit of the Nevada CCW permit process prior to their scheduled July 17 quarterly meeting. According to NVSCA Executive Director Frank Adams, he believes that Nevada could pass a new audit, however, the request to BATFE must be given the green light from all seventeen sheriffs. Please take the time to contact your Sheriff immediately and ask that they join with their fellow sheriffs when this matter comes before them! The contact information for your Sheriff, as well as all seventeen, can be found on the Nevada Sheriffs and Chiefs Association website at www.nvsca.com/agency_links.html.
On another very important note, the NVSCA sub-committee on Nevada CCW will be meeting on Tuesday, August 5 at 1:30 p.m. at the Sawyer Building in Las Vegas. Last year was the first meeting of this kind to be held and was attended by over a hundred NRA members and activists with an interest in the CCW process.
We are hoping to get even more to attend this meeting where Frank Adams and several NVSCA officers will be on hand to discuss firearms issues. A television link to Carson City will be made available for all who want to attend from northern Nevada (details will follow with more information on the link).
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