Library Lawsuit, Round One: Judge Demonstrates Need for State Preemption

Judge Stephanie Miley denied a motion for a preliminary injunction against the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District today in the lawsuit over the library district’s illegal open carry ban.

NBC News 3 has a good story on the proceedings.

Counsel for the district portrayed the incident as a disturbance rather than the true facts of library staff interfering with Mrs. Flores’ right to open carry in a public building. The district also insists that state preemption laws do not apply to it because it is a joint city-county library district, rather than a city library district.

Flores stated that she was never actually asked to leave the library by the staff. Library administrative staff have conspired for years to illegal prohibit openly carried firearms in their district. There is no basis under state law for the policy the district has in place.

It is unfortunate that Judge Miley chose to play a part in the corrupt Clark County system that has consistently infringed on Second Amendment rights. It is not surprising that this played out, but quite shocking that a judge would clearly ignore the obvious legal arguments showing that the library district is in violation of the law. This kind of behavior, dating since the 1950s, is why enhanced pre-emption was passed in the form of SB 175/240 in 2015.  

In similar cases, particular on essentially the same foundation as this case, Michigan Open Carry v. CADL, have been won on appeal. Instructor Mac pointed out that by the library district’s trustee Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod’s statement that the legislature should take up the issue, she is tacitly admitting the library district does not have the legal authority to ban openly carried firearms. In fact, among the Intermountain West states, open carry is legal in the vast majority of public buildings.

For a summary of the history and issues in this case, please see this post cataloging the topic.