Gov. Phil Murphy joined his counterparts from three nearby states Thursday to announce an effort to leapfrog the federal government and push for increased gun control on a local level.

Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island created the States for Gun Safety Coalition, the governors announced in a conference call. The group was formed by each state's Democratic governor.

Among other things, the states plan to share information they say could prevent people who pose a risk to their community from buying a gun across state lines. In New York, for example, people who are the subject of protection orders are barred from purchasing firearms.

New York will now share that information with the other states. The others may have to pass additional laws to prevent those individuals from buying guns within its borders, but the governors argued the coalition is a step in the right direction.

"Let's form a coalition of like-minded states .... and try to move the ball forward," Murphy said.

Each governor expressed their frustration with the lack of movement from Congress.

"We're not waiting for federal action. All of our states are already ahead of the federal government when it comes to laws on this issue," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. "Today we take the next step."

Rhode Island's Gina Raimondo and Conneticut's Dannel Malloy agreed.

"We can't just wait for Washington to do the right thing," Raimondo said, "So we said that we're going to take action."

They'll form a task force to trace and intercept illegal guns in the region and coordinate on potential legilsation, the governors said.

"(We'll) advocate for better laws in our region," Malloy said.

In New Jersey, Murphy is pushing forward with legislation already moving through the Democratic-controlled Legislature. The bills would:

* Reduce the permitted size of ammunition magazines from 15 rounds to 10.

* Require background checks for private gun sales.

* Ban armor-piercing ammunition.

* Make making people seeking a handgun permit under "justifiable need" demonstrate the urgent necessity for the firearm rather than a more generalized fear or concern.

* Ban .50-caliber assault rifles

* Require gun shops to sell personalized handguns, or so-called smart guns, if the technology is available on the market.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.