After the attack in Las Vegas, there are a lot of question about the guns used and gun laws in Nevada.
Here's what we can VERIFY:
- Investigators found at least 19 weapons in Stephen Paddock's room
- They say there was a combination of rifles and handguns
- Late this afternoon, investigators say they found 18 more guns as well as explosive devices, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and technical devices in his home
- There are rumors online he used a machine gun, but we cannot confirm that
When it comes to legality, because Paddock lived in Nevada, he would have been within his rights to own a machine gun if it was made before 1986. Those are legal in Nevada as long as they follow that federal law.
In Texas, machine guns are illegal. But, some people have been able to defend owning them in court, saying they were following the federal law.
We also found you're completely within your rights to open or concealed carry inside a casino on the Las Vegas strip, unless someone asks you to disarm or leave. If you don't, it's a crime.
Overall, Nevada's gun laws are pretty similar to Texas' laws. Here's how they measure up:
- You don't have to have any kind of license to own a gun in either state
- In both states you do need a permit to concealed carry
- In Nevada, open carry is legal without a permit, both for hand guns and long guns
- In Texas, you have to have a valid handgun permit to open carry a handgun, but you can open carry a long gun without one
- There's no law limiting how many guns or how much ammunition you can buy at once in either state
Sources:
https://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/state-gun-laws/nevada/
http://www.nevadacarry.org/
http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-laws/state-law/nevada/
http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/hardware-ammunition/machine-guns-50-caliber/
https://www.dps.texas.gov/RSD/LTC/faqs/index.htm
https://txapps.texas.gov/txapp/txdps/ltc/
http://smartgunlaws.org/concealed-weapons-permitting-in-texas/