{"id":7624,"date":"2019-05-05T10:01:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-05T17:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=7624"},"modified":"2019-07-04T11:36:21","modified_gmt":"2019-07-04T18:36:21","slug":"how-the-gun-grabbers-grabbed-nevada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=7624","title":{"rendered":"How the gun-grabbers grabbed Nevada"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/images-1.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/images-1.jpg?resize=275%2C183&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7628\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>(Note: This post originally appeared at the Web site of Firearms News &#8212;  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firearmsnews.com\/editorial\/how-the-gun-grabbers-grabbed-nevada\/360294\">https:\/\/www.firearmsnews.com\/editorial\/how-the-gun-grabbers-grabbed-nevada\/360294<\/a> . Please patronize their advertisers.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Barring some recent exceptions including public schools and airports, Nevada has been an \u201copen carry\u201d state for as long as anyone can remember. It\u2019s an arid, mostly empty land where ranchers talk \u201cacres-per-cow,\u201d not \u201ccows-per-acre.\u201d Help might be days away, and \u2013 thrown from a spooked horse and dragging by one stirrup \u2013 a cowpoke might have one last chance . . . providing his sidearm is still on his hip.<\/p>\n<p>The kind of clientele who came to frequent the sawdust gambling joints of the desert oasis of Las Vegas 70 years ago didn\u2019t mind running into the occasional cowboy with a sidearm, back when the biggest event in town was the horseback Helldorado Rodeo &#038; Parade. Heck, Benny Binion of the downtown Horseshoe Casino WAS a pistol-packin\u2019 Texan.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/images-2.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/images-2.jpg?resize=300%2C168&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7653\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-9.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-9.jpg?resize=225%2C225&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-9.jpg?w=225&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-9.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But the urban corporate moguls who run Las Vegas today don\u2019t think that way. Sinatra is gone, Dean Martin is gone, Elvis is gone. In a world with a fragmenting music and entertainment culture, they\u2019re struggling to bring in the urban yuppies with celebrity chefs and hip-hop artists and topless swimming pools and X-rated hypnotists. The last thing they want is for those sheltered young urbanites to be scared, and they\u2019ve got it in their heads that guns are \u201cscary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So any local who\u2019s been here awhile will tell you, your right to walk up the Las Vegas Strip \u2013 the crowded four miles of Las Vegas Boulevard that are home to most of the town\u2019s major hotel-casinos \u2013 while openly packing heat is largely theoretical.<\/p>\n<p>Try it, and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police boys in beige (who in effect work for the casino barons) are likely to stop you, ask your business, \u201crun your ID,\u201d tie you up for 15 minutes, and let you go with a warning. Dare to walk on another hundred yards, and a new pair of Metro\u2019s finest \u2013 maybe that pair of motorcycle cops staked out to fine you a hundred bucks if you try to make a long left turn on a short yellow light \u2013 are likely to stop you, ask your business, \u201crun your ID,\u201d rinse and repeat. <\/p>\n<p>Why, in recent years most of the major Nevada casinos have even disarmed their own security guards, citing \u201cthe advice of their attorneys over liability concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/images-3.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/images-3.jpg?resize=275%2C183&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7655\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You know where that leads. John Lott has been demonstrating for decades that \u201cGun-free zones invite mass shootings.\u201d (See<br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/www.twincities.com\/2018\/11\/26\/john-lott-gun-free-zones-invite-mass-shootings\/\">https:\/\/www.twincities.com\/2018\/11\/26\/john-lott-gun-free-zones-invite-mass-shootings\/<\/a> .) And sure enough, that\u2019s what happened in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.<\/p>\n<p>No room here to go into the many strange aspects of the 2017 mass shooting by former IRS employee Stephen Paddock at an outdoor concert next to the Mandalay Bay Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. For a glimpse into the odd police \u201cinvestigation\u201d into the  inadequate security arrangements there, see my twin columns at  <a href=\"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=5790\">https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=5790<\/a> , . . . and<br \/>\n <a href=\"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=5804\">https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=5804<\/a> .<\/p>\n<p>Suffice it to say, for now, that despite \u201cbackground checks\u201d and all the rest, another mass shooter managed to spend days stocking up his armory in a gun-free hotel zone \u2013 man, those \u201cDo Not Disturb\u201d signs sure work great! &#8212; and it took nearly an hour after he started shooting before Metro police, or anyone else, broke down his hotel room door. (The \u201csecurity guards\u201d on scene were unarmed and minimally trained, for starters.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>A CONFUSING CHECKERBOARD OF LOCAL GUN LAWS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Anyway, our story today begins with the fact that over the years, from 1989 to 2015, Nevada voters and gun-owners worked hard to get a pretty good \u201cstate-pre-emption\u201d on local gun-control laws.<\/p>\n<p>As little as 20 years ago, it was perfectly legal to toss your loaded guns (cased or otherwise) in your car or truck and drive out to the safest ad hoc shooting areas in the desert hills and breaks way north of town, or (more recently) to the official county shooting range, also at the north end of town . . . AS LONG AS YOU STAYED IN LAS VEGAS.<\/p>\n<p>But if you crossed an unmarked boundary into the city of North Las Vegas on the way (which was almost inevitable) most folks didn\u2019t realize you were now illegal \u2013 North Las Vegas Police could and would arrest you and seize all your firearms, since \u201cloaded firearms in the passenger compartment\u201d were illegal in the city of NORTH Las Vegas, only.<\/p>\n<p>(Before the state pre-emption, \u201cNorth Las Vegas said it was illegal to carry a loaded weapon in your car, and that included someone with a concealed carry permit,\u201d recalls Don Turner of the Nevada Firearms Coalition. \u201cAnd they had a law that they could seize and destroy that weapon; they didn\u2019t have to give it back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The hard-won state pre-emption was designed to get rid of that confusing and conflicting \u201ccheckerboard\u201d of local gun laws.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-6.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-6.jpg?resize=300%2C153&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"153\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7634\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-6.jpg?resize=300%2C153&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-6.jpg?w=314&amp;ssl=1 314w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>But due to the still shocking outcome of Nevada\u2019s 2018 elections, which swept in a state Legislature which is two-thirds Democrat, along with (as governor) a gun-grabbing former Clark County Commissioner named Steve Sisolak, D-Caesars Palace (who had claimed he believed more gun controls were \u201cunnecessary\u201d as recently as 1996, but who changed his tune right quick when it proved necessary to win the 2018 nomination of the now hard-socialist Democrat Party), that state pre-emption is now as good as gone.<\/p>\n<p><strong>THE SOROS AND GIFFORDS LAWYERS WERE THERE TO EXPLAIN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Nevada Assembly Bill 291 again allows counties to pass their own, more onerous, California-style gun controls. It criminalizes firearm modifications, supposedly to ban \u201cbump stocks,\u201d but in fact with wording so broad you could conceivably become a felon just for changing out your trigger on a semi-automatic firearm. And it expands the ability of localities to create more \u201cgun-free zones\u201d (including libraries), which in the interest of accuracy should henceforth be called \u201cdisarmed-victim free-fire zones.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Approved by the Nevada Assembly Judiciary Committee April 12, not much now stands in the way of this Democrat Victim Disarmament wet dream becoming law in the Silver State. The state Senate is likely to OK the measure, and Michael Bloomberg\u2019s buddy Gov. Steve Sisolak is expected to sign it by June, just as he signed the state\u2019s new \u201cuniversal background check\u201d legislation two months ago.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-7.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-7.jpg?resize=275%2C183&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7635\" \/><\/a>   <\/p>\n<p>Don Turner, head of the Nevada Firearms Coalition, told me in late April that \u201cAB 291 had only one sponsor\u201d \u2013 36-year-old Assemblycritter Sandra Jauregui (pronounced \u201cHar-gay\u201d) of Las Vegas, a former employee of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid who was raised in Hacienda Heights, California, and who was at the Oct. 1 shooting at the concert outside Mandalay Bay. \u201cBut the governor is behind it and it was also backed by (former New York City Mayor Michael) Bloomberg and by the Gabby Giffords Law Center (to Prevent Gun Violence.)\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Turner reports that when Jauregui introduced her bill, she promptly turned over the floor to attorneys from the Giffords Law Center and George Soros\u2019 \u201cCenter for American Progress\u201d to explain its provisions! <\/p>\n<p>As originally written, the part of the bill supposedly designed to ban \u201cbump stocks\u201d would also have \u201cmade it illegal to drop in a trigger improvement; dropping in a competition trigger on a target rifle could have been considered \u2018making it a machine gun,\u2019 that would have been a felony,\u201d Turner explains.<\/p>\n<p>Turner says the sponsor agreed to change that language after testimony from an NRA representative and from the state Firearms Coalition\u2019s lobbyist, Randy Thompson, though police and prosecutors will still have wide discretion to interpret language including \u201cA person shall not import, sell, manufacture, transfer, receive or possess: (a) Any manual, power-driven or electronic device that is designed such that when the device is attached to a semiautomatic firearm, the device [:] eliminates the need for the operator of a semiautomatic firearm to make a separate movement for each individual function of the trigger and: (1) Materially increases the rate of fire of the semiautomatic firearm; or (2) Approximates the action or rate of fire of a machine gun, . . .\u201d etc.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-10.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-10.jpg?resize=300%2C120&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"120\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7648\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-10.jpg?resize=300%2C120&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-10.jpg?w=354&amp;ssl=1 354w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-3.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-3.jpg?resize=275%2C183&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7631\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-4.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-4.jpg?resize=300%2C168&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7632\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-5.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-5.jpg?resize=261%2C193&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"261\" height=\"193\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7633\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trades (SHOT) Show, held annually in Las Vegas, draws about 50,000 attendees from those industries, with an economic impact on the town (hotel rooms, etc.) estimated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau at $127 million. The show is currently scheduled to remain at the Sands Expo Center, just off the Las Vegas Strip, through 2027, though Mark Oliva, spokesman for the Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation (which runs the show) says that outfit is in close touch with lawmakers in Carson City about AB 291, and is watching it closely:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This legislation is very worrisome,&#8221; says Oliva. &#8220;The law needs to be clearly written so that a manufacturer or even a gunsmith customizing a gun&#8221; &#8212; putting in a lighter trigger, for instance &#8212; &#8220;knows whether they&#8217;re safely within the law, and that&#8217;s not the case, here. Does a lighter trigger &#8216;speed up the gun&#8217;s function&#8217;? We have exhibitors, and there are even firearms manufacturers in Nevada, that could be seriously impacted. We see serious concerns with the way this law is written.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClark County wants to ban guns from the Strip,\u201d Turner says. \u201cThe October First issue is just a canard. Nothing they\u2019re trying here would have prevented that shooting. . . .<\/p>\n<p>The Clark County Commission, including Commissioner Steve Sisolak, \u201cwanted to ban guns in the parks; they put up signs banning guns in the parks.\u201d The Firearms Coalition sent them a firm letter pointing out that was illegal. \u201cThey want to be much more punitive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/images.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/images.jpg?resize=294%2C171&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"294\" height=\"171\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7625\" \/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>According to sworn testimony at the hearing, every Democrat politician on the legislative committee that OK\u2019d Nevada\u2019s \u201cuniversal background check\u201d bill this year received the maximum $10,000 from Michael Bloomberg. And Michael Bloomberg \u2013 the nanny-stater who famously banned outdoor smoking and large-size soda pops in New York City \u2013 endorsed now-Gov. Sisolak last September, shaking his hand in a \u201cphoto opportunity\u201d and declaring Sisolak \u201chas the guts to stand up for what he believes in &#8212; on climate change and gun safety. That is why I am glad to support him in his campaign for Nevada governor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/bloomberg-Capture.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/bloomberg-Capture.jpg?resize=300%2C257&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"257\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7629\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/bloomberg-Capture.jpg?resize=300%2C257&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/bloomberg-Capture.jpg?w=626&amp;ssl=1 626w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>At least AB 291 was amended so \u201cThe ability to pass local gun laws will be just by county, now,\u201d Turner says. \u201cThey were going to make it by municipality, but we testified that could result in more than 800 separate sets of gun laws in the state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBloomberg put $22 million into the campaign for the universal background check\u201d (a ballot initiative that Nevada voters enacted two years ago \u2013 mostly thanks to Clark County, of course \u2013 but which then-Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt (grandson of former governor and U.S. Sen. Paul Laxalt) declared unenforceable, since the FBI refused to take the background-check calls from individual gun stores, as the initiative would have required. The new Democrat Legislature promptly made minor changes and enacted the universal registration bill as Senate Bill 143, this winter. And who stood up and explained the bill to lawmakers when it was introduced? An attorney for Bloomberg\u2019s \u201cEverytown for Gun Safety\u201d!)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download.jpg?resize=300%2C168&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7626\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/19aprzb3n8qkvgif.gif?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/19aprzb3n8qkvgif.gif?resize=300%2C242&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"242\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7659\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Clearly, billionaire Bloomberg and his pals want every gun in America listed on a \u201cform 4473\u201d (the firearms dealer\u2019s \u201cyellow sheet,\u201d which links the gun to its owner\u2019s name and address by serial number) and then aim to change the law so every \u201c4473\u201d goes onto a national database so there\u2019d be a searchable record of every gun in America.<\/p>\n<p>Since \u201cbackground checks\u201d cost billions but have never been shown to prevent a single crime, nothing else can explain the push to have every private firearm transfer (including my giving a handgun to my niece as a gift for self-protection) recorded and linked to the new owner by serial number.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download.png?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download.png?resize=259%2C194&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7638\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>HOW THE GUN-GRABBERS GRABBED NEVADA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Look at Nevada on a county-by-county elections map. With the occasional exception of Washoe County\/Reno in the Northwest, Nevada is a bright red Republican state, with a small triangle of blue \u2013 Clark County\/Las Vegas \u2013 in the far south, near Hoover Dam.<\/p>\n<p>So why is the Nevada state capital in Carson City now aswarm with Democrat gun-grabbers, who -\u2013 like the scorpion in the old folk tale, who stings the frog as he\u2019s being ferried across the creek, dooming them both -\u2013 seem intent on committing political Hara-Kiri over this issue, even after Bill Clinton warned them this is how they lost control of Congress in 1994?<\/p>\n<p>There are four reasons.<\/p>\n<p>First, as Don Turner of the NVFAC explains, the Gabby Giffords gun-grabbers and particularly billionaire Michael Bloomberg of New York City have targeted the state with millions of gun-control dollars &#8212; millions that go a lot further in thinly-populated Nevada than they might in pricier markets like Florida or Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Second? Sheer weight of numbers. <\/p>\n<p>Just as \u201cblue\u201d Chicago tends to dominate otherwise more conservative Illinois, Las Vegas has grown over the past 70 years from a medium-sized desert cowboy town and refueling stop of 50,000 souls to a metropolis of over 2 million, easily dominating a mostly rural state with a total population of only 3 million.<\/p>\n<p>In the current issue of \u201cRange\u201d magazine, sixth-generation Westerner and senior White House adviser to three presidents Stephen M. Studdert reports that from 1980 to 2010, America\u2019s rural populations declined 10 percent, while urban areas grew by 42 percent. Of Nevada\u2019s 21 state Senate districts, 15 are now in Clark County, while \u201conly two senators represent the remaining rural counties.\u201d Of 42 Nevada Assembly districts, 30 lie wholly within Clark County. Eight assemblycritters represent the urban Reno area or the state capital of Carson City, leaving only four Assembly districts to represent rural counties.<\/p>\n<p>(The obvious solution &#8212; leave the popular Assembly alone but have either one or two state senators elected by each of the 17 COUNTIES, mimicking the way U.S. Senators are elected by STATE -\u2013 will now never happen.) <\/p>\n<p>Most of these recent arrivals have never so much as spent a day with a rural rancher, trying to understand issues including water rights, \u201cgrazing permits\u201d controlled by pony-tailed Eastern \u201cecologists\u201d whose goal is to \u201cget the cattle off the land,\u201d or split-title land rights \u2013 including the fact that the federal government owns virtually no Nevada land, never having purchased it \u201cby the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be\u201d as required by Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the Constitution. So it\u2019s easy for them to support nice-sounding \u201cfairyland legislation like the Green New Deal, which proposes to eliminate \u2018farting cows\u2019 and western fossil fuel production in the next 10 years,\u201d Studdert explains.   <\/p>\n<p>Importantly, only a small portion of those 2 million Clark County\/Las Vegas residents were born in Nevada. Most are relatively recent emigres from places like coastal California (see Assemblycritter Sandra Jauregui) and Chicago, who bring their urban politics with them.<\/p>\n<p>Nevada natives laugh about the way newcomers spend their first six months in Nevada hopping about with glee, praising their new home for its lower level of government regulation \u2013 why, there\u2019s not even any state income tax! I can have a charcoal grill! Taverns are open 24 hours! And so much free parking! Then, \u201cCalifornication\u201d sets in, as they vote for the same species of gun-grabbing, tax-hiking socialist Democrats whose policies crashed the local economies and drove them out of the very hellholes they fled.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/th-11.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/th-11.jpg?resize=276%2C175&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"276\" height=\"175\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-5114\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The third reason Nevada appeared to go so \u201cblue\u201d in 2018 was probably the same reason Democrats recaptured the House of Representatives in Washington City.<\/p>\n<p>Those of us who long ago gave up watching the \u201cnetwork news\u201d may be partially immune,  but clearly the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week shrieking and droning of the formerly \u201cmainstream\u201d media (now revealed to be the transparent propaganda arm of the radical far-left Democrats) that \u201cthe walls were closing in\u201d (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rLEchPZm318\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rLEchPZm318<\/a> ) , that Donald Trump \u2013 the brilliant trade strategist who has almost single-handedly turned the American economy around \u2013 was not only a racist, crotch-grabbing, incompetent buffoon, but also quite literally a Russian agent, about to be led away in handcuffs &#8212; had a cumulative effect, especially on \u201cnon-partisan\u201d voters.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/download-4.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/download-4.jpg?resize=275%2C183&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6567\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Having sacrificed their remaining credibility in pursuit of that bald-faced lie, it\u2019s unclear whether the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the major television networks \u2013 now shedding viewers by the millions \u2013 can maintain any such level of control over the minds of a substantial slice of the populace come 2020.<\/p>\n<p>(Interestingly, Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale told CBS\u2019 Margaret Brennan on \u201cFace the Nation\u201d April 28 that \u2013 along with New Hampshire, New Mexico, Minnesota, and Colorado \u2013 the Trump campaign considers Nevada to be back \u201cin play\u201d for 2020.)<\/p>\n<p>But the fourth reason Democrats now appear to have a lock on California and its desert suburb, Nevada, brings up another subject on which Democrats and their captive national media continue to insist with open-eyed wonder, \u201c500-pound gorilla? Here in the room with us? Where? I don\u2019t see any gorilla\u201d:<\/p>\n<p>Illegal voters. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-8.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-8.jpg?resize=269%2C187&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"269\" height=\"187\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7639\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018I\u2019M AN ILLEGAL ALIEN, AND I VOTE!\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Lots of illegal aliens cast votes in Las Vegas. The evidence is not hard to find. See:  \u201cNoncitizens say union pressured them to register, then cast vote.\u201d ( <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theblaze.com\/news\/2012\/11\/05\/las-vegas-columnist-meets-noncitizens-who-say-union-pressured-them-to-register-then-cast-vote\">https:\/\/www.theblaze.com\/news\/2012\/11\/05\/las-vegas-columnist-meets-noncitizens-who-say-union-pressured-them-to-register-then-cast-vote<\/a> .) Or . . .<\/p>\n<p>\u201cComplaint filed over illegal alien voters \u2013 tens of thousands may have cast ballots.\u201d ( <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frontpagemag.com\/fpm\/164341\/complaint-filed-over-illegal-alien-voters-michael-volpe\">https:\/\/www.frontpagemag.com\/fpm\/164341\/complaint-filed-over-illegal-alien-voters-michael-volpe<\/a> .) Or . . .<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s easy to vote illegally in Nevada.\u201d<br \/>\n( <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewjournal.com\/opinion\/opinion-columns\/victor-joecks\/its-easy-to-vote-illegally-in-nevada\/\">https:\/\/www.reviewjournal.com\/opinion\/opinion-columns\/victor-joecks\/its-easy-to-vote-illegally-in-nevada\/<\/a> .)<\/p>\n<p>In fact, how many illegal aliens are registered to vote in America? I took an in-depth look at the evidence two years ago, at: https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=4983 <\/p>\n<p>At <a href=\"http:\/\/phibetaiota.net\/2017\/02\/gregg-phillips-three-million-illegal-votes-data-backs-up-assertion-by-donald-trump-analytics-algorithms-and-hundreds-of-millions-of-data-points\/\"> http:\/\/phibetaiota.net\/2017\/02\/gregg-phillips-three-million-illegal-votes-data-backs-up-assertion-by-donald-trump-analytics-algorithms-and-hundreds-of-millions-of-data-points\/<\/a> , Gregg Phillips reports his groups, AutoGov and TrueTheVote, have now verified more than three million votes were cast in November 2016, illegally, by non-citizens \u2013 just as Donald Trump reported, to the widespread ridicule of the leftist press.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Senate_2016_Nevada_La_Gasp_t653.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Senate_2016_Nevada_La_Gasp_t653.jpg?resize=300%2C203&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7644\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Senate_2016_Nevada_La_Gasp_t653.jpg?resize=300%2C203&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Senate_2016_Nevada_La_Gasp_t653.jpg?w=653&amp;ssl=1 653w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Back on Jan. 24, 2017  (at  <a href=\"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=4562\">https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/?p=4562<\/a>  I detailed how the Culinary Union in Las Vegas pressures its tens of thousands of member busboys and hotel maids and other hotel\/casino employees to register and then to vote (which can be done in Las Vegas with a casino employee card along with a water or power bill to show place of residence \u2013 no proof of citizenship required), irrespective of whether they\u2019re in this country legally or can even speak English \u2014 even busing them to \u201cearly voting\u201d locations, \u201cencouraging\u201d them to vote en masse for the union\u2019s chosen Democratic slate.<\/p>\n<p>The Culinary Union \u201crepresents over 55,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno\u201d \u2014 most in Las Vegas\/Clark County, and brags those workers \u201ccome from 167 countries and speak over 40 languages.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Yet in none of their self-congratulatory announcements about registering 34,000 members to vote do union officials mention any difficulties or frustrations growing out of the fact many of those members aren\u2019t citizens . . . and don\u2019t even speak (or read) much English!<\/p>\n<p><strong>A SMALL VICTORY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On the bright side, the Nevada Firearms Coalition won a victory in Carson City on April 23. An amendment to Assembly Bill 60 would have turned Nevadans found guilty of misdemeanor domestic violence at even the lowest level into \u201cprohibited possessors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the legislators got a lot of emails on that one, and it was quietly killed.  <\/p>\n<p>\u2013 V.S.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-1.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-1.jpg?resize=300%2C125&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"125\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-7627\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-1.jpg?resize=300%2C125&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/download-1.jpg?w=348&amp;ssl=1 348w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Note: This post originally appeared at the Web site of Firearms News &#8212; https:\/\/www.firearmsnews.com\/editorial\/how-the-gun-grabbers-grabbed-nevada\/360294 . Please patronize their advertisers.) Barring some recent exceptions including public schools and airports, Nevada has been an \u201copen carry\u201d state for as long as anyone can remember. It\u2019s an arid, mostly empty land where ranchers talk \u201cacres-per-cow,\u201d not \u201ccows-per-acre.\u201d Help [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[89,93,8,17,12,5,78,34,87,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2018-election","category-2020-elections","category-2nd-amendment","category-big-brother","category-common-defense","category-elections","category-individual-liberty","category-nevada","category-regressive-left","category-trump-derangement-syndrome"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pWqFl-1YY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7624"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7703,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7624\/revisions\/7703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinsuprynowicz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}