The Democratic-backed bills would have prohibited people under 21 from buying and possessing semi-automatic shotguns and rifles, restricted firearms within 100 feet of election sites, and banned people convicted of a hate crime from owning a gun for 10 years.
The news broke as Democrats and gun violence prevention advocates were set to hold a press conference urging the governor to sign the bills into law. Instead, speakers denounced his decision.
Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, a survivor of the Oct. 1, 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, sponsored two of the bills.
“After his time consoling the families of ‘One October,’ I expected the governor to have the basic empathy to realize his responsibility to prevent future mass shootings,” Jauregui said. “I never want a Nevadan to experience the trauma that I and so many have endured, and I would have expected the governor to want the same.”
Following his first vetoes of the session, Lombardo issued a written statement saying, “I will not support legislation that infringes on the constitutional rights of Nevadans.”
It was not immediately clear if lawmakers would attempt to override the vetoes.
