Eureka County Sheriff, Jessie Watts sent Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak a letter earlier this month. The letter is dated January 7, 2020, describing Watts discontent on Sisolak’s signing of the controversial gun law, AB291,
According to Watts letter, he explains that he wrote a letter to Sisolak in February of 2019 stating his disgrace of how Sisolak and others politicians used the Oct. 1 shooting tragedy to create new, unconstitutional laws.
“Our founding fathers were genius when they wrote the document you are walking all over and swore to protect and defend. That document is the Constitution of the United States of America,” Watts explains.
Probably one of the most impactful new laws of the 71 that became effective Jan. 1, is AB291. When Sisolak signed the bill into law in October of last year, it was called the One October Bill. Sisolak had signed the ban into law alongside the bill’s democratic Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui. Jauregui is a survivor of One October.
What is AB291? It is a law that bans bump stock modifications and institutes so-called “red flag” laws. “Red flag” laws allow people to petition the courts to temporarily take away guns from family members who could be considered dangerous. The law allows family members, household members and law enforcement to petition the courts. If the court decides to take away a firearm, the subject of the confiscation has to turn them over or the court will issue a warrant to seize the guns. The law also bans bump stocks.
Watts letter goes on to state that he will be fighting AB291, “until there is no fight left in me. This law and others you have signed into law violates the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendment rights of the people of Nevada.”
During a televised event last year, Sisolak stated, “Everybody knows about what happened here and this is going to go a long way towards keeping our community safer. It’s reasonable. No one can object to any of this: the banning of bump stocks, the safe storage, blood alcohol level being reduced for people that are carrying guns. I’m proud to have signed this and it’s fitting that we did it here.”
Watts remains strong in his stance stating, “As the duly elected Sheriff of Eureka County, it is my duty and responsibility to stand with my citizens and against you and unconstitutional government overreach. My distain for politicians, including you, for passing gun laws because they’ve made a campaign promise hasn’t changed.”
Watts said he hasn’t received a response from the governor’s office.
Clearly red flag laws have triggered the national movement for 2nd Amendment Sanctuary counties. And we’re already witnessing a sea change in the sanctuary movement. I’ve always believed these partisan and unconstitutional laws could be defeated by simply denying assistance to federal or state law enforcement.
The obvious reason is federal and state resources alone are woefully inadequate to enforce such things as red flag or bayonet lug violations and could not begin to undertake such efforts without local law enforcement assistance. If deputizing hundreds of thousands to actively resist federal and state efforts is representative of the whole movement, it’s a single issue rebellion which could rapidly expand.
Hundreds of counties already have proclaimed sanctuary status and almost 70 percent of the counties nationwide are projected to declare allegiance to the Constitution and refusal to enforce laws that violate it. That would comprise 472 counties with only one murder per year plus 1,700 counties that have no murders at all. If that materializes, a desirable result would force federal and state enforcement to concentrate on the 63 counties (2% of the total) where half of America’s murders occur.
This movement is understandable because the fact is, red flag laws were created to dilute power licensed to the psychiatric community. These laws transfer power to unqualified persons more obedient to democrats, e.g., local judges and crotchety old aunts. Due process requires reports from two psychiatrists, one from each side, legal representation, arraignment, indictment and trial by jury.
Nobody wants criminals to have firearms but to be taken seriously, if the accused is a danger to himself (not against the law) or others, he should be legally arrested. In other words, take the man but leave the guns. The line of inheritance codified in state laws determines the legal custodian of any property. Politicians on both sides who support this notion will regret the day they ever heard of red flag laws.
Their legacies will carry a Supreme Court scolding and perhaps be the landmark of their careers. Writers, politicians and demonstrators have been hoodwinked by Bloomberg’s rhetoric and haven’t read his 2018 data. It reveals gun homicides declined seven percent, firearm injuries declined 10 percent, fatal child shootings (under 18) declined 12 percent and unintentional shootings plummeted 21 percent.
None of this hysteria is justified. Since 1991, the murder rate has fallen by 45 percent and the overall violent crime rate has fallen by 48 percent. It’s bizarre that Bloomberg wants to change all that. Since 1999, the statistical probability of a student being killed in school, on any given day by a gun has been one in 614 million. Your odds of winning the lottery are 1 in 300 million. The chances of your child being kidnapped are about one in 300,000. Bloomberg says the nation is in crisis, suffering an epidemic. Folks, there is no crisis, no epidemic.
Shooting incidents involving students have been declining since the ’90s. Fact is all but three mass shooters in recent history passed background checks. Two stole their rifles. The other one bought from a guy who assembled it from parts and sold it from home. Murders committed by all types of rifles combined, in 2018, dropped by 23.9 percent. According to the FBI, out of 14,123 homicides in 2018, only 297 (2.1%) were committed by rifles, less than by knives (11%), hands, fists and feet (5%) and blunt objects (3%).
During that time, citizens were buying a record number of firearms. In 2019, more than 28 million requests were submitted to the National Instant Background Check System, a general indicator of firearms purchased and an historic record. That number exceeds 27.5 million in 2016 when purchasers were mortified that Hillary might be elected. Democrats want US citizens to believe making the U.S. safer for criminals will make it safer for their victims. Ask yourself, do you believe being disarmed makes you safer? What kind of political leader would disarm his people while howling about the peril they face?
The Supreme Court isn’t about to jeopardize its own reputation by reducing the ability of private citizens to defend themselves. It’s especially important because currently, half the nation’s murders occur in only 63 counties while the other half are spread across the other 3,081 counties. Said another way, 15 percent had one murder and 54 percent of the nation’s counties had no murders at all.
As an analogy, if someone sips too much wine during dinner at home, a crotchety old aunt might be empowered to call the police and have them impound every motorized vehicle from the homeowner — just in case he or she might decide to drive somewhere.