New Jersey Pushes Gun Control

by Andrew Rosenthal

Kevin R. Wexler/The Record of Bergen County, via Associated PressChris Christie on May 28, 2013.

There are two surprising things going on in New Jersey: one, the state legislature, which is famous for either doing nothing or doing the wrong thing, has passed a series of tough gun control measures; and two, it's plausible that Gov. Chris Christie will sign some of them.

Mr. Christie is often as doctrinaire a right-winger as the next doctrinaire right-winger. But he is also capable of surprising people, as he has done by embracing (literally) President Obama after Hurricane Sandy. Or when he proposed gun control measures of his own in late April soon after Congress utterly failed to pass anything at all.

Mr. Christie's proposals were too short on real regulation, but at least he's on the record supporting the general idea. And the legislature followed up. On Thursday, the Senate passed 10 bills, three of which are heading to the governor's desk. One would prohibit anyone on the terrorist watch list from buying guns (a no-brainer to everyone except Congress). Another would require the state to submit more mental-health records to the federal background-checks system. And the third would require state pension funds to divest from companies that make consumer versions of military-style assault rifles.

And there are three other bills already on Mr. Christie's desk: to give those who possess illegal guns 180 days to dispose of them; to require New Jersey enforcement agencies to report information on lost, stolen and discarded guns to federal databases; and to create a "School Security Task Force." I presume that last item is intended to placate those who think the solution to never having another Newtown is to arm kindergarten teachers.

(NJ.com has a good list of all the bills passed by either the New Jersey Senate or Assembly.)

So far, New Jersey is not being as bold on gun control as New York State, which quickly broadened the definition of an assault weapon and reduced the legal size of gun magazines.

But the state's lawmakers are doing their job, which is more than you can say about Congress, which couldn't even pass a background check bill.

New Jersey Pushes Gun Control
http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/31/new-jersey-pushes-gun-control/

John Hames

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