A group of twelve lawmakers in Nevada will consider a new restriction on public employees who choose to carry on the job when the state’s Legislative Commission meets on Tuesday. As the law stands now, those employees who aren’t specifically prohibited from carrying a gun at work can do so, but under the proposed rule change they would be required to notify their appointing authority or designee. Failure to disclose the fact that the employee is carrying would result in disciplinary action or even termination.

As NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action says, this looks like a solution in search of a problem.

This is a drastic change from current practice and will have an impact on public employees across the state. Per the minutes of the State Personnel Commission meeting on the same topic, the regulation was prompted by a petition from two employees. This appears to be nothing more than a harassment mechanism of persons lawfully exercising their rights.

I can definitely see this leading to discrimination and harassment against those who choose to carry. After all, concealed carry is concealed for a reason. These employees may not want everyone in the office to know that they’re lawfully armed for self-defense, particularly if their boss or supervisor is anti-gun.

The public does have the chance to weigh in during today’s meeting of the Legislative Commission. If you want to submit a written comment you can can email [email protected], or you can join the meeting by phone as well starting at 1 p.m. Pacific on Tuesday.

To dial in to provide testimony during this period of public comment in the meeting, any time after 1:00 p.m. on Monday, December 28, 2020: Dial: (669) 900-6833 When prompted to provide your Meeting ID, please enter: 974 9616 7016 then press # When prompted for a Participant ID, please enter # To resolve any issues related to dialing in to provide public comment for this meeting, please call (775) 684-6990.

I suspect that there will be at least a few public employees speaking out in favor of the proposed rule change, but I’m hoping that they’re outnumbered by employees and members of the general public who see this for what it is; an attempt to target the lawful carrying of firearms in the guise of transparency and public safety.

A quick look at the public comments that have already been submitted to the Legislative Council reveals that there’s already plenty of opposition to the proposal. Here’s one example that does a great job of laying out the problems with the potential change in policy.

“It has come to my attention that there is a proposed law to require public employees that are concealed carry permit (CCW) holders to notify their employer or designated representative if they will be carrying a firearm at work. I do NOT support this. Nevada already has a thorough vetting process for the issuance of CCW permits, the purpose of which is for the permit holder to carry a firearm in a concealed manner. Having to alert someone, even if that someone is an employer or supervisor, defeats the purpose of a CCW altogether, and may subject a permit holder to differential treatment, and possibly even disciplinary action from an employer or supervisor that simply disagrees with an employee’s choice of carrying a firearm. I encourage you to vote against any such proposal.”

That’s just one of more than a dozen comments slamming the proposal, and though I haven’t read all of the public comments submitted so far I’ve yet to run across one that is in support of the measure. Let’s hope that the pro-Second Amendment voices can put a halt to this proposal now, but even if this measure is defeated, gun owners in Nevada should be on guard for more attempts to restrict their rights in the upcoming legislative session. We know that the end goal of the anti-gun crowd isn’t to regulate public employees who are lawfully carrying, but to negate our right to keep and bear arms entirely.