Can NC lawmakers override a Cooper gun bill veto?

House Speaker Tim Moore said the legislature has enough votes to override one of Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes and pass a law allowing guns in private schools where people meet for worship.

House Bill 652 would allow concealed permit holders to bring handguns to worship services held at nonpublic schools when classes are not in session. Republican legislators have been trying for such a law since at least 2013.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the latest version Thursday, objecting because allowing guns on school property “threatens the safety of students and teachers.”

Three-fifths of members present and voting in each chamber are needed to override a veto. The bill passed the House 77-38 with a dozen Democrats supporting it and no Republicans opposed. It passed the Senate 33-14 with five Democrats voting in favor and no Republicans opposed.

Moore cited those votes in saying there was support for an override. But the legislature has failed to override a Cooper veto since Democrats broke the Republicans’ veto-proof majority in the 2018 elections.

The House has the bill back on its calendar for Wednesday with five other bills Cooper vetoed, but may not hold an override vote on that day.

In a statement, Moore referred to earlier pandemic restrictions on attendance at indoor church services in North Carolina, which a federal judge blocked in May.

“After unconstitutionally denying churchgoers the right to worship freely until a federal judge ordered him to permit religious services, Governor Cooper now refuses those same North Carolinians their 2nd amendment rights to protect themselves by vetoing a strongly bipartisan bill,” Moore said in the statement.

HB 652 would also allow emergency medical personnel to carry concealed weapons when providing tactical assistance to law enforcement agencies.

This story was originally published July 5, 2020 at 4:48 PM.