TRENTON — After months of pressure from both sides of the gun control debate, Gov. Chris Christie today refused to sign three controversial gun control measures sitting on his desk — including a version of a weapon ban that he had called for.

Christie altered two bills, sending them back to the Legislature — a massive measure (S2723) known as state Senate President Stephen Sweeney’s “centerpiece” to overhaul the way the state issues firearms ID cards, and legislation to require New Jersey law enforcement agencies to report information on lost, stolen and discarded guns to federal databases (A3797).

But the governor completely axed a bill that would ban the Barrett .50 caliber rifle(A3659), which is the most powerful weapon commonly available to civilians. Christie had called for a ban on future sales of the weapon in his own package of violent prevention measures outlined in April.

In his veto message delivered this evening, Christie said that his proposal to ban the weapon was more narrowly tailored than the bill the Legislature passed, which would have also required owners to give them up.

“Tellingly, the Legislature points to no instance of this class of firearms being used by even a single criminal in New Jersey,” Christie wrote. “The wide scope of this total ban, therefore, will not further public safety, but only interfere with lawful recreational pastimes.”

Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D-Essex) said Christie’s veto was a “failure of leadership.”

"Instead of doing what's right for New Jersey, he bowed to the pressures of his political party,” she said.

Bryan Miller, executive director of Heeding God's Call, a faith-based organization focused on gun violence, called it the “most common-sensical bill in the entire package.”

“One person with one of these guns and incendiary armor piercing bullets could knock down a chemical plant and kill hundreds of people. Chris Christie clearly is courageous for his place in the Republican Party, but not for the residents of New Jersey,” Miller said.

“This shows real cowardice to put this out the public and the media at after 6 o’clock on a Friday ," Miller added. "He wants it to be buried.

He’s more interested in running for president and making the extreme right wing feel good than he is in protecting the safety of the residents of New Jersey . ”

Even though Christie said a task force he created to study gun violence had issued the recommendation to ban future sales of the .50 caliber rifle, its nearly 100-page report made no reference to the gun. Instead, Christie included it in his own package of violence prevention measures the following week. Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said it was Christie’s recommendation, “but it flowed from the report.”

Calling it “little more than an academic white paper,” Christie conditionally vetoed Sweeney’s “centerpiece” legislation, saying it would be unworkable and expensive. He knocked out the biggest part, which would encode firearms purchase permits on to driver’s licenses or separate photo ID cards and create a system to expand instant background checks to cover private sales.

“None of the technology necessary for this system exists,” Christie wrote. “The Attorney General, the Superintendent of the State Police, and the Chief Administrator of the Motor Vehicle Commission all note that the “smartcard” called for by this bill cannot be implemented now, or any time in the foreseeable future.”

Christie also nixed part of the bill that would require gun buyers to show they’ve undergone safety training, instead recommending that law enforcement agencies distribute pamphlets with gun permits that explain "the best practices for gun ownership". But he left in place language that would increase penalties for a gun owners if minors access the weapon and it results in injury or death; and require those overseeing involuntary mental health commitments to ask about gun ownership.

Sweeney said that he’s still reading over Christie’s recommendations, but that the bill “would have served as a model for the nation. It was a well crafted piece of legislation that took input from all sides.”

Christie also removed a provision of a bill (A3797) that would direct the State Police to issue reports on gun trace data provided by the federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. Echoing an argument gun rights advocates made during legislative hearings on the bill, Christie said that it would violate a federal law that bans “the knowing and public disclosure of ATF trace data information that law enforcement entities receive by virtue of their participation in the ATF firearms trace system database program.”

Gun rights advocates were thrilled with the governor's actions, calling them a "blow to anti-gun politicians and the gun ban lobby."

“After seven months of battle over misguided legislation that won’t stop another crime or prevent another tragedy, we are grateful that Governor Christie has finally ended the discussion on the worst of the bills by tossing them onto the scrap heap where they belong,” said Scott Bach, Executive Director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs. “These vetoes put gun-banning politicians on notice that exploiting tragedy to advance an agenda against legal gun owners, instead of punishing violent criminals, will not be entertained.”

Christie did sign one minor gun-related bill today, which will create a school security task force (A3583).

The governor signed 10 less controversial bills last week that will:

• Upgrade the crime of unlawful possession of a firearm to a first-degree crime and increase mandatory minimum sentences for such offenses by six months.

• Make the crime of firearms trafficking subject to the No Early Release Act, which requires offenders to serve at least 85 percent of their terms. The bill also requires authorities to seize cars used to smuggle weapons into the state and increases penalties to at least 18 months in prison for dealers who knowingly sell guns to customers disqualified from possessing them.

• Allow authorities to impound cars if an occupant illegally possesses a weapon of if they are used in cases of prostitution and buying or selling illegal drugs.

• Increase penalties for those who unlawfully sell or give a gun to an underage person from a third-degree to a second-degree offense with a minimum mandatory prison sentence of five years.

• Disqualify people on the federal terrorist watch list from owning guns

Others bills Christie signed last week would would give residents a 180-day window to get rid of certain illegal guns and make into law a state regulation banning the public release of personal information on firearms owners.

The bills also clarify that the total number of gun permits in a town is a public record, require submission of mental health records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and create a study commission on violence.

Most of the gun bills were introduced after the shooting deaths of 20 elementary schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., in December.

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