“This notion of a coalition of states, of like-minded states, that share best practices to me is a very smart interim step toward a national solution,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said. | Spencer Platt/Getty Images Northeast governors announce gun control initiative

Not counting on Washington to take action on gun laws, four Northeast Democratic governors on Thursday announced the formation of a state-based alliance to beef up gun controls. It's modeled on the Climate Alliance formed by Democratic governors after President Donald Trump announced he’d withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

Govs. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Andrew Cuomo of New York, Dan Malloy of Connecticut and Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island said the initiative would share information on top of what’s in the federal background-check system, trace guns across state lines and create a regional consortium to share policy studies being done at universities and elsewhere.


In an interview earlier this week for POLITICO’s Off Message podcast, Murphy had teased that this group was coming.

“This notion of a coalition of states, of like-minded states, that share best practices to me is a very smart interim step toward a national solution,” he said in the interview.

Murphy has already announced a raft of new gun regulations he wants to sign into law, with the support of the New Jersey Legislature.

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“Rather than wait for the federal government to come to its senses,” Cuomo said in a statement announcing the initative, the states are going “to take matters into our own hands.” New York has passed a series of gun laws since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.

Raimondo added: “Kids in Florida and across the nation are taking action, and it's not a surprise: We've forced them to lead because for years elected officials in Washington have refused to.”

Murphy was elected to a first term by a wide margin last year, and Cuomo and Raimondo are running for reelection. Malloy’s term ends this year.

