LAS VEGAS (AP) — A judge says a gun buyer screening initiative that Nevada voters approved in November 2016 was fatally flawed and can't be enforced.
Judge Joe Hardy Jr. in Las Vegas ruled Monday that proponents and voters should have known the measure would mean the state would need the FBI to take over criminal background checks during private sales of firearms.
The judge says the FBI rejected Gov. Brian Sandoval's requests to implement the law.
The Republican governor and Attorney General Adam Laxalt opposed the initiative known as Question 1.
But Hardy says they tried enough to get it enforced.
No word yet about an appeal from initiative backers.
They want to close what they call a legal loophole letting buyers skip background screenings when purchasing guns from another person or online.