Juaregui seeks audit to learn if state agency is licensing felons to carry firearms 

Assemblywoman Sandra Juaregui is asking the legislative auditor to investigate the state agency that regulates security guards “following serious allegations that the Board has been violating Nevada law and giving felons access to firearms and PI (private investigator) licenses.”

The Private Investigators Licensing Board “may have obstructed legislative oversight, misrepresented material facts to the Legislative Commission, and operated outside the authority granted to it by the Legislature,” says the news release from Juaregui, a Democrat who is running for lieutenant governor.   

Last month, the Legislative Commission learned that the PILB has been letting armed guards carry shotguns and rifles for years, even though Nevada law has no provision allowing the practice.

Nevada security guards illegally carrying rifles and shotguns, lawmakers learn 

Juaregui’s request comes on the heels of reports that the board is not adequately ensuring that applicants for private investigator licenses complete the requirements. 

“These allegations raise significant concerns that individuals with disqualifying violent criminal histories may have improperly obtained private investigator licenses and, in some cases, access to firearms in direct violation of state law,” the news release says. 

Certified firearms instructor Andrew Cowie told the Current that in April he asked Vincent Saladino, the executive director of the PILB, to “stop issuing firearm permits to prohibited persons, including convicted felons and individuals with domestic violence convictions.”

Nevada law prohibits anyone with a felony conviction from being licensed as a security guard. Felons are also prohibited from possessing firearms. 

At its quarterly meetings reviewed by the Current, the board routinely grants licenses to felons, based on the “time and distance” since their crime, as long as they disclose their criminal history. Applicants who do not disclose are denied a license. 

In June, the Current asked Deputy Attorney General Stephanie Itkin-Goodman, who advises the PILB, to identify a provision of the law that allows the PILB to license felons based on the length of time since their crime.

Itkin-Goodman, a Democrat who is running for public administrator in Clark County, said she was not the appropriate person to respond and directed the Current to Saladino, the PILB executive director. He responded to other questions but after repeated requests, did not address the licensing of felons as security guards. 

The legislative auditor has the authority, Juaregui said, to “determine whether the Board violated state law, and recommend the corrective actions and reforms necessary to restore public confidence,” adding that “any government agency, board or commission that operates outside of the law will be held accountable.”

The Current also reported  in June that with the assistance of a PILB rule that appears nowhere in state law or administrative code, security companies are allegedly engaged in tacit discrimination against security guards who want to become trained to be armed.