COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The Ohio Senate voted Tuesday to override outgoing Gov. Bob Taft's veto of a bill that would wipe out local gun laws, marking the first time in 29 years the Legislature have rejected a gubernatorial veto.
     
The GOP-dominated Senate voted 21-12 to override the Republican governor's veto. Three Republicans voted against overriding, and three Democrats voted in favor of an override, including the attorney general-elect Marc Dann of Youngstown. The House, also controlled by Republicans, voted to overturn Taft's veto last week.
     
Taft, who leaving office in a few weeks, has said the bill exceeded its goal of cleaning up Ohio's concealed weapons law because it pre-empts about 80 local gun laws. A message seeking comment was left at Taft's office.
     
That includes current assault-weapons bans in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo.
     
Backers with the support of the National Rifle Association defend the provision as bringing uniformity to a confusing patchwork of local gun laws.
     
A majority of respondents to an Ohio survey said overriding local gun laws was a bad idea, according to a poll released Tuesday by the Hamden, Conn.-Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
     
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)