Juneau -- The Legislature, meeting in joint session today, voted 43 - 17 to override Governor Knowles' veto of Senate Bill 130. SB 130 removes the liability of public officials who sign federal forms for the transfer of firearms and provides for a reasonable fee to perform any background checks deemed necessary by the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

"Someone told me that they had read SB 130 and they were completely confused as to why the Governor vetoed it," said Senator Pete Kelly, sponsor of the bill. "Frankly, I am, too."

"The Administration had complained that they were worried about possible liability and thought they should be able to charge some fees to cover the cost of signing off on these federal application forms. That's all SB 130 did. It relieves them of the liability and authorizes them to charge fees. All the hype that came out in the debate about making machine guns legal or putting lethal weapons in the hands of gang members was absurd," Senator Kelly said.