Gun control measure revised

CARSON CITY -- A Senate panel was told Friday that a bill stepping up state record-keeping to help keep guns away from the mentally ill has been revised to deal with earlier criticism that it didn't protect Nevadans' constitutional due-process rights.

Senate Judiciary Committee members were told the Assembly Bill 46 revisions improved initial wording by ensuring that the records are accurate and up to date, and can be inspected by Nevadans trying to preserve their gun ownership rights or petition to get those rights restored.

Rebecca Gasca of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada said the ACLU's major concerns were met by the amendments, although questions remain about a required five-year wait in some cases before petitioners can try to get gun rights restored.

Deputy Attorney General Kerry Benson said AB46 is required by federal law and federal funds could be lost if it's not approved.

The federal law was passed after the 2007 mass shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 people dead, including the gunman whose prior psychiatric treatment wasn't listed in records checked by gun dealers who sold him weapons.

Under AB46, any court records on mental competency, insanity pleas, forced admissions to mental health facilities or appointments of a guardian for someone deemed to be incompetent would be forwarded to the state's central repository for crime records.

The state repository in turn would transmit the court records to the federal criminal background database, which gets queries from gun dealers when someone tries to buy weapons.