Robert Uithoven

Special to the RGJ

New York billionaire and gun control activist Michael Bloomberg made a 20 million dollar mistake in Nevada and now his supporters are trying to pin the blame on our Attorney General Adam Laxalt. A recent guest columnist in the Reno Gazette-Journal ("Time for Nevada AG Laxalt to enforce gun check law: Rick McCann," Voices, March 7) attempts to bully our state's chief law enforcement officer into prosecuting law-abiding Nevada gun owners who share or transfer a gun without first going through a federal background check. The fact is, Laxalt cannot enforce the law because the federal government will not conduct those new background checks. For months, Laxalt, and many others, told voters the law was poorly written and unenforceable. But Bloomberg and his supporters ignored those warnings and pushed forward with their ill-advised gun control initiative.

Nevada is one of 12 "points of contact" states that run their own gun background checks rather than relying solely on the FBI's system. But under the poorly written law, the FBI is required to conduct the additional background checks. But the FBI was quick to tell the state of Nevada that states "cannot dictate how federal resources are applied." Attorney General Laxalt does not have the authority to force the FBI to conduct these additional background checks. Law-abiding Nevadans are not to blame for the fact that the federal government won't conduct background checks on their private gun transfers. As things stand, law-abiding gun owners who want to follow the new law, cannot. The FBI will not conduct their background checks. Undeterred, Bloomberg supporters want those people prosecuted, anyway. That's just plain nuts and shows how out of touch these gun control activists really are.

Question 1 was never about making Nevadans safer. It was always part of a larger national gun control agenda to make it harder for law-abiding citizens to protect and defend themselves. Question 1 criminalizes virtually every private firearms transfer in the state. Under the law, a man can't loan his handgun to a co-worker or even fiancé to defend herself from a stalker or ex-boyfriend. Ranch hands can't share hunting rifles without going through background checks. Military members wouldn't be able to leave their personal firearms with a friend when deploying overseas.

Bloomberg's gun control initiative is a huge failure in Nevada because he never took the time to learn how things work in our state. Bloomberg attempted to impose cookie-cutter legislation in Nevada that he had already passed in other states. He didn't bother to see how Nevada's gun laws were different. And now his supporters are scrambling to find a scapegoat for their failure. That's not how we do things in Nevada. Bloomberg took a $20 million roll of the dice in our state and he lost. With those kind of losses, most gamblers back up and go home. Perhaps it's time Bloomberg did the same.



Robert Uithoven, a Reno native, was the campaign manager for NRA Nevadans for Freedom, an organization organized to defeat the Question 1 gun background check ballot initiative.