Nevada legislature blocks governor approving guns to those convicted of hate crimes after prison
The Nevada Independent reported Monday that the state Senate passed a veto override of Gov. Joe Lombardo (R-NV), who blocked a set of gun safety laws that would stop those convicted of a hate crime in the last ten years from getting a gun.
There were three Democrat-proposed gun control measures, the report explained, and the GOP governor vetoed all of them.
“I will not support legislation that infringes on the constitutional rights of Nevadans,” Lombardo said in a release Wednesday. “As I stated in my letters, much of the legislation I vetoed today is in direct conflict with legal precedent and established constitutional protections. Therefore, I cannot support them.”
The other gun legislation would criminalize bringing a gun within 100 feet of an election site and a measure that would raise the legal age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle and shotgun to 21. That bill also sought to close legal loopholes that allow for so-called "ghost guns."
During the spring session, Democratic-led state legislatures have taken steps to pass gun safety legislation overwhelmingly supported by voters in the state. In Colorado, a member attempted to pass an assault weapons ban, but the Judiciary Committee voted it down 6-7.
Illinois passed and the governor signed a law that would make it illegal for anyone to knowingly possess an assault weapon, .50 caliber rifle or .50 caliber cartridge 300 days after the law is signed. It allows a carveout for any weapon registered with the Illinois State Police.
Washington state banned 60 different kinds of weapons and kits that can build such weapons or enhance legal guns.
Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, a Democrat, lamented she “desperately” wishes Lombardo would choose the lives of Nevada people over partisanship.
“After his time consoling the families of the 1 October massacre, I expected the governor to have the basic empathy to realize his responsibility to prevent future mass shootings and gun violence tragedies,” Jauregui said in a text message to the Independent. “I never want a Nevadan to experience the trauma that I and so many have endured.”