CARSON CITY, Nev.: Steve Sisolak, Nevada’s first Democratic governor in two decades, called for the state to welcome immigrants and find a way to enforce a gun background check law that was never enacted.
Sisolak laid out his priorities in an inaugural State of the State speech in Carson City before the Democratic-controlled Legislature. His nearly hour-long address drew plenty of applause from the liberal-majority lawmakers and a fair amount from Republicans in the chamber.
Sisolak, who helped start a fundraiser for the victims of the 2017 mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip, said he is working with the Legislature to find a way to enforce Nevada’s 2016 gun background check law. The measure was approved by voters but the state’s then-Republican governor and attorney general said it was flawed and could not be enforced. A lawsuit calling for the law to be enforced is still tied up in court, but Sisolak said he wants to find a way to get it done.
“It’s long past time we listen to the voters and enact these changes because background checks save lives,” he said.
The Democrat also wants to ban bump stocks, which the gunman used in the Las Vegas mass shooting to modify his guns to mimic the firing of a fully automatic weapon.
Sisolak, who spent a decade on the Clark County Commission before he defeated Republican Attorney General Adam Laxalt in November, said in his speech that the state is “full of opportunity” and proposed a range of progressive moves, from raising the minimum wage to creating a state office to welcome immigrants and assist them as they navigate government programs and build businesses.
Sisolak’s Office for New Americans will also assist young immigrants who have been shielded from deportation under the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which President Donald Trump is trying to end. AP
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