Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed a bill that would allow Kentucky lawyers to carry firearms anywhere, even into courtrooms.
House Bill 690 had already been approved and was proposed initially to define terms for electing members of Kentucky’s Judicial Council. However, an amendment quietly added to it by Rep. Sen. Johnnie Turner contained the firearm regulation.
“Courtrooms are venues of often volatile disputes that can be filled with emotion and tension,” Beshear said in his veto statement. “A criminal defendant accused of murder will be able to stand in a courtroom within inches of an armed attorney.” Before the veto, state officials had also cited the emotional volatility of the courtroom setting as a reason to throw out the bill.
Beshear also cited a 1991 incident in which one Fayette County lawyer shot another before being disarmed by the presiding judge.
Cassie Drochelman, interim executive director of the Mary Byron Project, also noted that domestic abuse victims are already fearful of coming to court. “Imagine knowing the lawyer for your abuser has a gun on his hip,” Drochelman told the Courier-Journal.
Turner’s amendment was approved through a voice vote, although Turner did not indicate that the amendment would contain regulations on firearms.
“The floor amendment just clears up some things that add the attorney general and attorney general employees along with other licensed judicial people to be included with what is now commonwealth attorneys and county attorneys and assistants,” Turner said.
According to the Courier-Journal, Dem. Sen. Morgan McGarvey, who led the campaign to veto the bill, indicated that lawmakers did not know what they were voting for.
Shortly before House Bill 690 passed, Rep. C. Edward Massey, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, proposed a similar measure to allow lawyers to carry firearms in court, with the caveat that they file a notice of intent with their county’s sheriff. However, that bill was opposed by judges and law enforcement and was denied without a hearing.