Gov. Bill Ritter has vetoed a bill that would have exempted some gun buyers from background checks, saying it contains “inadequate safeguards” to prevent ineligible people from buying firearms.

The bill would have allowed holders of valid concealed-handgun permits to avoid mandatory criminal background checks by presenting that permit along with one other piece of identification when buying a gun.

Critics said there would be no way to guarantee that the current holder of a concealed-weapons permit surrendered it in the event of their arrest for a violent felony. A person in that circumstance would not be eligible to purchase a handgun but would be able to avoid the background check by showing the concealed-weapon permit.

“(The bill) does nothing to help assure that a sheriff who issued a concealed-handgun permit is promptly notified of a disqualifying event,” Ritter wrote in his veto message. “In short, it is easily foreseeable that a potential purchaser will be in possession of a concealed-handgun permit for a substantial period of time after the potential purchaser would no longer be qualified to purchase a firearm.”

“…House Bill 09-1180 significantly weakens the safeguards against the illegal purchase of firearms. Accordingly, I have vetoed this bill.”