Nevada Assembly passes bill letting police seize guns during mental-health crisis holds, 27–15
The Nevada Assembly voted 27–15 on May 22, 2025, to pass Senate Bill 347, a measure establishing procedures for confiscating and returning firearms when a person is placed on a mental-health crisis hold. The vote, on the bill's second reprint, met the constitutional majority required and sent the measure back toward final enactment. It had already passed the Senate 16–5 on April 22.
Under existing Nevada law, an officer or certain health care providers with probable cause to believe a person is in a mental-health crisis may place that person on a crisis hold — a detention for assessment and treatment that generally lasts no more than 72 hours. SB347 authorizes an officer to immediately confiscate any firearm found on the person or in the immediate vicinity of someone placed on such a hold. At the time of confiscation, the officer must give the person a receipt describing the firearm and a notice explaining how it will be returned. Once the person is released from treatment, the law enforcement agency must make the firearm available for return — unless an officer files a verified application for an order for protection against high-risk behavior, or the person is otherwise legally barred from possessing a firearm.
The bill was sponsored by Senators Melanie Scheible and Nicole Cannizzaro, with Senators Marilyn Dondero Loop and Julie Pazina. An Assembly amendment adopted along the way narrowed the reach of the confiscation authority: where an earlier version had covered a firearm in a person's "custody or control or immediate vicinity," the final language limits it to a firearm "on the person or in the immediate vicinity."
Presenting the bill, Senator Scheible described it as both a mental-health measure and "common-sense gun safety legislation," saying it gives officers clear legal authority to remove a firearm from someone in crisis — "their pocket, their backpack, the table right in front of them" — without running afoul of the law or the Constitution. She told lawmakers that a person whose gun is confiscated would, in most cases, have it returned automatically on release without having to file any petition, and, explaining the narrowing amendment, she said it clarified that officers "are not going into homes, rummaging through drawers, opening trunks of cars." A Washoe County Sheriff's Office representative testified in support, saying the amended bill closely mirrored how his agency already handles such encounters.
Opponents raised due-process and constitutional concerns. In Senate Judiciary testimony, one opponent argued the bill would allow law enforcement to seize a firearm with a weak evidentiary standard and potentially require the owner to go to court to get it back, even if a mental-health evaluation found the person was not a danger, and urged lawmakers to reject it. In Assembly Judiciary testimony, an opponent speaking for the Nevada Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities said the bill had an undefined scope, failed to clearly define the conduct that would justify confiscation, and bypassed judicial review — concerns the witness said undermined constitutional protections even while saying he did not condone firearms in the hands of people who are mentally unstable.
Governor Joe Lombardo signed the bill into law on June 5, 2025, as Chapter 257, Statutes of Nevada. It took effect July 1, 2025.
How your assemblymember voted
See how your assemblymember voted
Use your Google, Microsoft, or Apple sign-in to get to your Project Euthyna account. If you don’t have one yet, we’ll create it. We store the census block you live in, and use it to work out who represents you. We do not store your address. We do not sell anything about you, and you can delete your account, and everything in it, whenever you want.
Continuing means you accept our terms of service and privacy policy.