Nevada ACLU Backs Gun Rights

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada has declared its support for an individual's right to bear arms, apparently making it the first state affiliate to buck the national ACLU's position on the Second Amendment.

The state board of directors reached the decision following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment protects the rights of individuals to own handguns.

"The Nevada ACLU respects the individual's right to bear arms subject to constitutionally permissible regulations," a statement on the organization's Web site said. "The ACLU of Nevada will defend this right as it defends other constitutional rights."

"This was the consensus," said Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for ACLU of Nevada. "There really wasn't a lot of dissent."

Gary Peck, executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, said an individual's right to bear arms is in the Nevada Constitution, reflecting the state's "long, proud tradition of libertarian skepticism of government overreach."

The national ACLU disagrees with the Supreme Court ruling and sees the Second Amendment as a collective right to own guns and not an individual one.

A national ACLU spokeswoman said affiliates are free to take positions that differ from those of the national office. The spokeswoman added she was unaware of any other affiliate that had taken a differing position on the Second Amendment.