‘Disturbing to me.’ NC Democratic leader objects to silencing of debate on veto override

The Republican-controlled General Assembly successfully blocked the governor’s veto Wednesday in a vote that resulted in a Democratic leader apologizing to a group of visiting schoolchildren seated in the House gallery.

“We’re in a bad place as a government when this is who we are, and especially doing this with a bunch of kids here today,” House Minority Leader Robert Reives told reporters on the House floor after the vote on a package of gun rights legislation.

It’s the first time the House voted in favor of overturning a veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper since 2019, in a surprise budget vote. But unlike with that dramatic moment, this time Republicans successfully overrode Cooper’s veto, since the Senate had voted to override the gun bill a day earlier.

Republicans gained enough seats after the 2022 election to come just one vote short of a veto-proof supermajority in the General Assembly.

It sets up a legislative session in which Republicans can make laws without the governor’s OK, as leaders have either brought back or said they would reintroduce several bills that Cooper previously vetoed. They need the vote of only one House Democrat — or, as happened Wednesday, they need some House Democrats to be absent for the vote.

Veto override of gun bill

Wednesday’s veto override was of Senate Bill 41 – gun rights legislation that Reives called the “the most serious bill we’ve passed this session.”

The new law includes a controversial repeal of the state’s handgun permit requirement, which Republicans say infringed on Second Amendment rights. Some Democrats and gun safety advocates argue the permit law was a common sense safeguard that helps law enforcement keep guns from dangerous people. Cooper vetoed the bill Friday.

“Eliminating strong background checks will allow more domestic abusers and other dangerous people to own handguns and reduces law enforcement’s ability to stop them from committing violent crimes,” he said in a statement.

“Second Amendment supporting, responsible gun owners know this will put families and communities at risk.”

The state Senate, in which Republicans hold a supermajority, quickly voted to override Cooper’s veto Tuesday, one day after three children and three adults were killed in a Nashville school shooting. Cooper and other Democrats criticized GOP lawmakers for continuing with their override plans, calling it “outrageous” and “tone deaf” in light of Tennessee’s tragedy.

But Republican senators said SB 41 and the laws it will change would not have had any bearing on a situation like what happened in Nashville.

“I would hope that no one uses the tragedy that occurred in Nashville to score political points,” said Sen. Danny Britt, a Lumberton Republican, The News & Observer previously reported. “What we’re doing in this bill would not impact the situation in Nashville. What we’re doing in this bill would not make people less safe.”

The House override happened in just a few minutes Wednesday. Before the vote, Rules Chair Destin Hall cut off debate on the bill, to which Reives objected, saying that lawmakers should be heard on every vote.

After the vote Reives spoke on the floor, gesturing to the visitors in the gallery, which included several children.

“I would just like to say to all of the people that are here, school kids and others, thank you for being here. And I want to apologize on behalf of this body for you seeing what you just saw. Your teachers will explain to you we are a deliberative body. We recognize all viewpoints. But that was not shown to you today. And that breaks my heart,” Reives said.

But Republican Rep. John Torbett, of Gaston County, disagreed.

“My colleague just just apologized for the action on this floor and I want to also take just a brief moment because one of those people in that classroom might have been my grandson today. And what I hope the teachers also took is an understanding that you heard from the rules chairman at the end of the vote, that we’ve already talked about this bill over and over and over again for literally hours about this bill, so we did not have to go through that again for the sake of time,” Torbett said on the floor.

“So full deliberation had occurred. Today we came in here for the express reason of a vote, which y’all saw. So please also explain to your kids that deliberation had already happened on other days and we were here simply for a vote,” Torbett said.

Reives said lack of debate ‘disturbing to me’

Reives told reporters on the House floor after the vote that “nothing about process” was a problem, up until it was time for a vote.

Reives said he gives House Speaker Tim Moore credit for notifying Democrats on Tuesday about the upcoming vote. House Republicans changed their rules to make it easier to call an override vote without notice, but Moore told reporters that he would not call it without giving notice. The Senate gives 24 hours’ notice.

“My point is we deserved to have a voice heard today on that issue,” Reives said.

“And it is so disturbing to me that we have gotten to a place, where we are elected to this body and a whole part of this body is being told: You speak when spoken to, you talk when we tell you to talk, you amend when we tell you to amend. That is my point. If 119 people in here believe in something and one person objects, that one person deserves to be heard,” he said.

Avi Bajpai contributed to this story.