Background Checks for Private Gun Sales Vetoed by Nevada Governor

Police chiefs had called it "unenforceable"

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval on Thursday vetoed Democratic-backed legislation that would have strengthened gun-control rules by requiring background checks on customers in all gun sales in the state, including private transactions.

The Republican governor said in a veto statement that the bill amounted to an erosion of Nevadans' constitutional right to bear arms that would do "little to prevent criminals from unlawfully obtaining firearms."

The bill, which narrowly passed in the state Senate in May and was approved by the Assembly in June, would have also required Nevada courts to send information about legal defendants who are found to be mentally ill to a national clearinghouse for all new gun purchases within five business days after the finding.