The Senate sponsor of the gun bill up for a veto override last night spent little time defending the merits of the bill. Instead he launched a long personal attack on Missouri’s Attorney general. Attorney General Chris Koster issued an opinion a few days ago that the bill exempting Missouri from all federal gun laws was unconstitutional. Senate sponsor Brian Nieves of Washington launched a 25-minute tirade calling Koster “dumb,” and a liar.
“If this fails, it was scuttled, it was torpedoed by one man, Chris Koster, and he did it by lying,” Nieves told his colleagues. “He has lied and lied and lied,” he continued.
But it wasn’t Koster that killed Nieves’ attempt to override the gun bill veto. It was the top leaders of his own party in the Senate. President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey of St. Charles and Majority Floor leader Ron Richard of Joplin voted to uphold Governor Nixon’s veto.
Ten other bills will become law because of the legislative overrides of their vetoes, the most overrides in 180 years