A Nevada group backed by Everytown for Gun Safety announced Friday that it has added several key players – including billionaire casino mogul Elaine Wynn – to help pass a gun control initiative in the state.
Wynn, co-founder of Wynn Reports, will chair the Nevadans for Background Checks advisory board to help pass an expanded background check initiative that qualified for the 2016 ballot last month, the group said.
“Keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill isn’t a political issue; it’s common sense,” Wynn said in a statement.
Wynn also cited a poll that found 86 percent of voters supported background checks for all gun sales.
Included in the initiative is language seeking to revise state law requiring a federally-licensed firearms dealer conduct a background check through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, where currently it is optional to do so through the state repository.
Among the exemptions are sales and transfers by law enforcement officers and between family members, including spouse, parents, children siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews, according to the petition.
The initiative will go before the legislature at the start of its new session on Feb. 2. If passed by the legislature and Gov. Brian Sandoval signs it, the initiative could become law effective Oct. 1. Should the initiative not pass those offices, it will go before voters on the November 2016 ballot.
Washington state voters recently passed a similar background check initiative there, also backed by Everytown. This latest push in Nevada is part of the group’s strategy to incorporate it’s national quest for expanded background checks at the state level.
The gun safety group said it also has its sights on Arizona and Maine.
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