LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo on Thursday pushed back on the idea that Nevada gun laws were to blame for the mass shooting in New York City this week, saying mental health services should be the focus in the wake of the tragedy.
Following the shooting that killed four people, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said Nevada's laws allowed the gunman to purchase a semi-automatic rifle and drive it across country into New York, where such weapons are banned.
Lombardo — who spoke exclusively with Channel 13 — said that despite two mental health holds in 2022 and 2024, the case of gunman Shane Devon Tamura may not immediately have come to the attention of police.
WATCH | Gov. Lombardo comments on Nevada gun laws and NYC shooting
"There's a lot of details that still need to unfold associated with that," Lombardo said. "There were some allegations of mental health issues, and would that qualify as a [restriction on the] ability to purchase a gun. So one of the things that I've known in the past is people's mental capacity, or defined mental capacity, has to be adjudicated by the court before law enforcement can become aware of it."
Tamura was subject to two 72-hour emergency holds for mental health, but that's much different than being committed to a mental health facility or adjudicated mentally incompetent by a court.
If that were to happen, a person would not be able to legally purchase a gun or get a concealed weapons permit, which Tamura obtained in 2022.
WATCH | How did the NYC shooter get a concealed weapons permit?
When asked about Hochul's implication that if semi-automatic military-style rifles were banned nationwide the way they are in New York, the shooting may not have happened, Lombardo said the focus shouldn't be on the weapon, but on the assailant.
"I think it still boils down to the operator versus the weapon, and the fact that we have a lack of mental health services in the United States in total," he said. "You know, it still requires an individual to make that decision."
Tamura left notes behind in which he claimed to suffer from repeated head trauma from his high school football days, and he asked that his brain be studied after his death for evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.
WATCH | Note found on NYC shooter raises questions about CTE brain disease
Lombardo added that people can still conduct mass shootings with other weapons, including handguns. Police found a .357-caliber Magnum Colt Python revolver in Tamura's car as well as founds of ammunition.
"Now, does it have to be a result of an automatic weapon? I mean, that's a fallacy, right?" he said. "It could have been a handgun that had the same amount of carnage associated with the event. But there's a plethora of different types of weapons that can be utilized when people intend harm, and it's hard to control that and identify that. The actual piece on that is the response to that and identifying the resources that are lacking to give people to prevent it from happening."
One resource that police will have going forward is found in Senate Bill 347, by Sen. Melanie Scheible, D-Clark County. That bill, which Lombardo signed this year, allows police officers to temporarily confiscate firearms from people who are subject to 72-hour mental health holds. (The firearms are returned once the person is released, unless officers file in court for an order of protection.)
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