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AB 199

Revises provisions relating to firearms. (BDR 15-881)

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Reuben D'Silva

The bill expands penalties for discharging firearms in public or populated areas, including new felony charges and harsher juvenile sanctions.

(Pursuant to Joint Standing Rule No. 14.3.1, no further action allowed.)
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Bill Summary · AB 199

Summary — AB 199 (BDR 15-881): Revises provisions relating to firearms

Status and procedural timeline
- Introduced: Jan 8, 2025 (Assembly). Referred to Judiciary and Budget-related committees.
- Assembly action: Read, ordered to second reading (Mar 17), read third time and passed the Assembly (Mar 20; Ayes 53, Noes 17). Transmitted to the Senate and referred for assignment.
- Final recorded status: (Pursuant to Joint Standing Rule No. 14.3.1) no further action allowed as of Apr 12, 2025.

Purpose / intent
- To revise Nevada criminal statutes governing the discharge, aiming, and juvenile possession/handling of firearms by (1) narrowing or changing culpable mental states in one statute, (2) increasing penalties for certain firearm discharges in public/populated areas, and (3) increasing juvenile sanctions for firearm possession offenses.

Key substantive changes
1. NRS 202.280 (discharging firearm in public places)
- Removes the language “maliciously, wantonly or” and redefines the covered conduct to conduct that is negligent: a person who negligently discharges (or causes discharge of) a firearm in public places or “in any place where any person might be endangered thereby,” although no injury results, is guilty of a misdemeanor (textual change shifts emphasis to negligence).

  1. NRS 202.290 (aiming or discharging where persons might be endangered)

    • Retains gross misdemeanor for willfully aiming a firearm at a person and for discharging an air gun/other non-firearm weapon or throwing a deadly missile in a public place.
    • Creates new felony penalties for discharging any firearm in a public place within an area designated as a “populated area” (or “any place where any person might be endangered”):
      • First offense: Category C felony (punishment per NRS 193.130; elsewhere referenced as roughly 1–5 years).
      • Second/subsequent offense, or if the person discharges more than once in a single occurrence, or has a prior conviction involving discharge of a firearm: Category B felony, with imprisonment of not less than 2 years and not more than 15 years.

  2. NRS 62E.650 (juvenile penalties)

    • Increases severity: the penalties previously required for a second juvenile offense are applied to a first offense (e.g., 200–600 hours community service; driver’s license suspension of 90 days to 2 years). For a second juvenile offense the court may commit the child to a secure facility and impose additional measures.

Who is affected
- Adult and juvenile firearm handlers in Nevada. Law‑abiding gun owners who inadvertently discharge a firearm in public or in places where someone “might be endangered” could face greater exposure to prosecution (including felony charges under the bill’s phrasing). Law enforcement, prosecutors, and juvenile courts would implement the new penalties.

Notable advocacy, critiques, and proposed changes
- Multiple testimonies (Nevada Firearms Coalition PAC, private citizens) oppose the bill as written, arguing it:
- Removes culpable mental-state safeguards (removal of “maliciously, wantonly”) and may criminalize accidents or negligent mistakes;
- Uses vague language (“any place where any person might be endangered”) that could apply almost anywhere;
- Imposes disproportionate penalties (felony exposure, 2–15 year sentences) for conduct that causes no injury.
- Clark and Washoe Public Defenders proposed an amendment seeking to restore negligent-only language as a misdemeanor and to remove the enhanced felony penalties.

Potential impacts
- Expands criminal liability and sentencing exposure for negligent firearm discharges in public/populated locations.
- May increase felony filings and juvenile sanctions; raise constitutional/vagueness and proportionality concerns among stakeholders; could affect decisions by lawful carriers and defensive gun users.

Text references: proposed amendments and statutory targets include NRS 202.280, 202.290, and 62E.650 as amended in the bill draft.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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