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WESTERNER PRAISES PROPOSED CHANGE IN NEVADA GUN RULESJanuary 20, 2011 - For Immediate Release
DENVER, CO. - A University of Idaho law student, who often camps in Nevada, today praised planned amendments to Nevada’s administrative code that remove the ban on possession and discharge of a firearm for self-defense in a state park. Al Baker, a NRA-certified Home Firearms Safety & Basic Pistol Instructor licensed to carry a concealed handgun in Idaho, Utah, and Oregon and an avid outdoorsmen who camps in northern Nevada, a few hours south of his residence in Boise, filed a lawsuit on July 13, 2010, against Nevada’s ban given the June 2010 ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court as to Second Amendment rights. One of the camping areas he has visited and intends to visit in the future is the Wild Horse State Recreation Area in Elko; however, he was advised that he could not possess a functional firearm in the park. In September, Nevada officials sought a stay to amend the ban and the district court enjoyed enforcement of the ban. “The proposed amendments remove the prohibition on the possession and discharge of functional firearms for self-defense and insert a provision that explicitly recognizes the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense,” said William Perry Pendley, president of Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), which represents Mr. Baker. “We are very pleased.” The Nevada Division of State Parks prohibits possession of firearms in state parks, with two narrow exceptions—that is, an unloaded firearm inside a vehicle and a concealed handgun carried by a person licensed pursuant to Nevada law—and prohibits the discharge of firearms, with no exception for self-defense. Nevada’s ban on firearms prohibits Mr. Baker from possessing a functional firearm when he is camping in Nevada State Parks. He must leave his firearm in his car, unloaded at all times, even in the case of a self-defense emergency. If he were to discharge a firearm in self-defense, that action would also violate the ban. The penalty for violating the Nevada firearms ban is 6 months imprisonment, or a $1,000 fine, or both. On April 12, 2010, Mr. Baker submitted a special use permit application for a group campsite at the Wild Horse State Recreation Area in Elko, Nevada, stating his intent to possess a functional firearm in his tent for self-defense purposes while camping at Wild Horse State Recreation Area. On June 1, 2010, Nevada officials notified Mr. Baker that he would be in violation of Nevada law if he did so. On June 28, 2010, in a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court of the United States held that “the right to keep and bear arms [is] among those fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty.” Mountain States Legal Foundation, founded in 1977, is a nonprofit, public-interest legal foundation dedicated to individual liberty, the right to own and use property, limited and ethical government, and the free enterprise system. Its offices are in suburban Denver, Colorado. Baker v. Drozdoff, 10cv426 (D.Nev.)
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Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) is a nonprofit,
public interest legal foundation dedicated to individual liberty, the right
to own and use property, limited and ethical government, and economic freedom. It is an Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) entity
incorporated in the State of Colorado. Csontributions
to Mountain States Legal Foundation are tax deductible. [Mission] [Press
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