[JURIST] South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard [official website] on Friday vetoed a pair of bills that would have loosened the state’s regulations on concealed carry laws. Calling the current laws adequate, and the new laws unnecessary and complicated [press releases], Daugaard defended his decision on the basis that he is unaware of a single instance in which a person who could lawfully possess a gun was denied a permit to carry a concealed pistol. The two House Bills, 1072 and 1156 [texts, PDFs], would have permitted concealed carry without a permit and concealed carry within the state Capitol, respectively.

Gun control and legislation has been a controversial topic in the US for many years. On Thursday the US House of Representatives [official website] approved a bill [JURIST report] making it easier for certain veterans to obtain firearms. The bill adds a requirement that declaring a veteran mentally defective for purposes of restricting their ability to purchase or own a firearm must be done with an “order or finding of a judge, magistrate, or other judicial authority of competent jurisdiction that such person is a danger to himself or herself or others.” In February the House of Representatives voted [JURIST report] to repeal a gun regulation that required mental health information to be shared with the national gun background check system. In December Ohio Governor John Kasich signed Senate Bill 199 [JURIST report], making it legal to carry concealed weapons at daycare facilities and onto college campuses. In September the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit restored [JURIST report] gun ownership rights of individuals convicted of minor crimes. In August the New Jersey Second Amendment Society [advocacy website] filed [JURIST report] a lawsuit against the state’s Attorney General in New Jersey’s district court alleging the state’s stun gun ban is unconstitutional.