Law enforcement groups split on ballot question on gun background checks
Nevada law enforcement groups seem split on a November ballot question proposing to extend gun background checks to private-party sales and transfers.
The Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers — a statewide union that represents about 1,500 police, prison guards and probation officers — endorsed the initiative this week. Although the association is affiliated with police unions throughout Nevada, not every group agrees that expanding background checks would have a substantive effect on public safety.
Rick McCann, executive director of the association, told the Review-Journal on Wednesday that his group endorsed the measure because he didn’t want a gun sold in a “no-questions-asked transaction” to end up being used to hurt one of the officers the union represents.
“It shouldn’t work that way,” he said of firearms sold at gun shows and on the Internet that wouldn’t require a background check. “Our job is basically to protect officers around the state.”
The association partners with 21 state law enforcement agencies to represent officers in legal matters and works with individual departments to provide a unified lobbying voice, McCann said. The group is affiliated with the National Communications Workers of America and is part of the state leadership of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations union.
Public safety agencies and police departments are in a prime position to weigh in on the debate over guns because officers are on the frontline fighting crime, McCann said. They see the worst of the worst.
But there isn’t a consensus among law enforcement.
Voters in Washington state approved a similar measure in 2014, but state police groups came out against it, including the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs that represents more than 4,500 officers. The Washington State Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association also opposed the measure, and the group’s rationale aligns with some of the reasons the Las Vegas Police Protective Association’s board isn’t going to endorse the measure.
Like the Washington initiative, the measure on Nevada’s ballot includes an exemption for police departments and peace officers “to the extent he or she is acting within the course and scope of his or her employment and official duties.” That provision was at the heart of the conflict in Washington.
“You are okay if this pistol is department-issued, but if you carry a personally owned firearm of any kind, then the private purchase of this firearm will fall under the requirements of (the Washington law). This would apply to patrol rifles (often permitted by a department as an individually purchased item). Backup guns are almost always personally owned,” the Washington association posted on its website. “Few people own, buy, sell and trade as many firearms as do (law enforcement) officers.”
The Las Vegas Police Protective Association’s board, which represents the rank-and-file officers of the Metropolitan Police Department, is going to stay neutral on the initiative in spite of the immense political pressure the group has faced to endorse it.
“This is the highest pressure campaign I’ve ever had to deal with,” said Mark Chaparian, its executive director.
Many cops go to gun shows to get a good deal on their personal and backup guns, but under the proposed law the officers would have to pay for a background check despite the fact they’ve already undergone a thorough vetting, Chaparian said.
“The big thing is it costs money,” he said. “And it’s kind of insulting that we as cops would have to get background checks.”
Chaparian also had doubts about the law’s efficacy. He said most criminals get guns through illegal means, and mental health issues are behind most active shooting situations. Serious reductions in gun violence would be better achieved by reforming the parole and probation systems, holding to sentences in criminal cases and beefing up mental health services, he said.
“It’s the people, not the guns,” he said.
Dave Kallas, a 30-year veteran of Las Vegas police who served on the police association’s board, countered that he was disappointed the union wasn’t going to endorse the measure. Kallas is listed as an adviser for Nevadans for Background Checks, the political action committee pushing for passage of the ballot question.
“There’s no perfect law that’s going to keep a criminal from buying a gun off the streets,” he said.
Contact Wesley Juhl at wjuhl@reviewjournal.com and 702-383-0391. Find him on Twitter: @WesJuhl
