Weapon confiscation under Nevadas 'Red Fahnen Act' after the slow start ticks

The use of Nevada's “Red Fahnen” setting, which enables police and family members to ask a court to temporarily take away the firearms of a person, has more than quadrupled since then, The Nevada Independent Restricted use of the law in 2022.

Public records received from The indy Show that from January 2025 61 “Red Flags” or extreme risk protection orders were added to the state's criminal record database. The law was used more often every year – five orders were submitted in 2021, while 27 were submitted in 2024.

Nevada still remains behind most of the 19 other countries that have passed similar laws on the red flag, which are usually submitted between 50 and 100 orders per year – although the registration frequency is variable based on the size of the state and the length of their laws.

But the law can be used more in the future. In October 2022, the office of the Nevada General Prosecutor's Attorney, General Prosecutor Aaron Ford, announced a grant of 400,000 US dollars to train and promote the “Red Fahnen” erat for the police and offer undergranters for community organizations to help families in crisis. The scholarship was financed by the US rescue plan.

The office quoted The indy“The reporting in its press release in which the scholarship was announced explained that it was” important to train law enforcement and to draw attention to Nevada families to this decisive tool that can help to stop the shootings before they start. “

John Sadler, a spokesman for the office, said the grant was being used to finance training courses in Las Vegas and Reno.

Sadler also said that the training materials are almost completed and that the Peace Officer Standards and Training Agency will be “very soon” submitted for certification. As soon as the conferences that will soon be announced, online training courses will be available.

During a preliminary legislator in 2022, when the funding of the grants was approved, Fords then informed Jessica Adair for the legislator that some of the impulse were behind the legislative template to avoid fatal arguments for domestic violence.

Coving Ford's role in a committee for domestic violence against domestic violence, she told the legislators of a murder self-murder that was checked that 46 days before the red flag was adopted, and found that the murderer was charged with domestic violence at the time of murder and was arrested for domestic violence.

“It is not known whether the law on the red flag would have made a difference, but I would like to believe that Nevada should take this opportunity if the state is able to prevent this in the future,” said Adair.

How we came here

The legislators of Nevada passed from 291 during the legislative period from 2019. The law enables police and family members to apply for an extreme risk protection command (ERPO) from a court to temporarily take away the weapon of a person if they find that they are a threat to themselves or others.

According to Nevada's system, the maximum duration for a temporary or ex -saving is seven days and requires predominance of evidence. Those who submit the order can also apply for a final order that takes up to one year, but a higher “clear and convincing” standard of proof.

Although all legislative republicans voted against the draft law, he was adopted and signed by governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat.

The invoice was sponsored by ASM. Sandra Jaureegui (D-Las Vegas), a survivor of the mass shooting of Route 91 and the singing lawyer for stronger weapons laws in Nevada.

Jauregui believes that Nevada's red flag law could be improved.

“I look at what Florida has done and I saw the statistics in which Florida used her Red flag laws 15,000 times and Florida used a red state,” said Jauregui.

According to the alltown weapon control group for weapon security, more than 14,000 ERPOS in Florida have been submitted in the six years since the state. Jauregui hopes that Nevada can follow the example.

“I really wish we could get the word out there what this actually does,” she said.

Republican governor Joe Lombardo – the former Sheriff of Clark County – campaigned against the law during his successful run from 2022 and in his first state of the state that he would try to remove “outdated laws including Nevada's red flag law”.

But this did not happen when checking the legislature of the Democrats.

Elizabeth Ray, communication director for the governor's office, told The Nevada Independent These “laws to cancel or change the Red Flag Act in Nevada in Nevada were not presented to evaluate the governor Lombardo.”

Although arms representation groups generally contradict the concept for reasons of the second change, the laws with red flags have enjoyed some cross -party popularity. President Donald Trump announced his support of the laws after a mass shooting of 2019 in Florida, and a great law on weapon security, which was passed in 2022 with cross -party support, comprised hundreds of millions of dollars for state judicial crisis intervention services, including the laws on the red flag.

Sadler confirmed that Ford's office did not apply for this financing.

Do the laws actually work for red flags?

According to the weapons control group Everytown for weapon security, a study showed that suicide was averted for all 17 to 23 extreme risk protection orders, which led to about 269 human lives in the United States.

A study by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health showed that Florida, who passed a Red flags law in 2019 after the mass shooting of Parklands, recorded a reduction in firearms compared to other politically conservative states without similar weapons laws.

Not all studies are overwhelmingly positive. An analysis of the border corporation of existing scientific research on laws with red flags showed limited evidence that the guidelines reduced suicide, but were not conclusive as to whether they deterred mass shootings, violent crime or unintentional injuries or deaths.

John Commerford, executive director of the National Rifle Association (NRA) Institute for Legislative Action, told The Nevada Independent The NRA rejects the law on red flags.

“The NRA has spoken out against the efforts. This would cancel the rights of the second change of a person without notice or based on deliberate vague standards. The so -called “red flag laws” enable the confiscation of firearms, which are based on mere accusations without the constitution being guaranteed, ”said Commerford.

What's next?

At the moment, the guidelines for the Red Fahnen Act in Nevada only allow law enforcement, a family member of a person or a household member to apply for an ERPO. Weapons control representatives want this to be wider.

“There are other situations in which other people, such as specialists or educators, are able to identify and address the risk of damage or violence,” said Agustin Cabrera, a state legislative manager at Giffords, a weapon prevention group, by e -mail. “By expansion that can submit for an ERPO, Nevada can ensure that people who exist that harms themselves or others the support they need.”

Colorado recently expanded the list of people who can submit an ERPO to include specialists in mental health, educators, doctors and prosecutors. Despite this expansion, Colorado recorded only an increase in the reported ERPOS by 5 percent a year after the expansion.

Jaureegui has no plans to expand this legislative period in Nevada in a similar way, but is “always looking for what we can do in search of what we can do to make our community more secure.”