shyanneroberts.jpg

Shyanne Roberts, a nine-year-old competitive shooter, said a bill to reduce the allowed size of gun magazines would make two of her guns "worthless."

(Matt Friedman/The Star-Ledger)

TRENTON — Despite the protests of dozens of New Jersey gun-rights supporters — including a 9-year-old girl — a state Assembly panel today approved a bill that would reduce the number of bullets an ammunition magazine could hold from 15 to 10.

The bill (A2006), which was approved by a 5-3 vote along party lies after a three-hour-long hearing, was sought by gun-control advocates and family members of some of the 20 elementary school children killed at the sandy Hook School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012.

The measure has the support of Senate and Assembly leaders, but the question is what Gov. Chris Christie will do when it reaches his desk. Last year Christie signed several minor gun-related bills, but vetoed those most sought by gun-control advocates, including a ban on .50 caliber rifles that he had called for months earlier.

Asked about New Jersey’s gun laws at a town hall meeting in Mount Laurel, Christie didn’t say what he would do about new proposals, though he did take the opportunity to note that he had vetoed more bills than any governor since at least 1947.

Assemblyman Lou Greenwald (D-Camden), the sponsor of the bill considered today, said that gunmen in several recent mass shootings had used high-capacity magazines, and were only disarmed when they needed to reload.

“We see time and time again in the news. It is when the individual goes to reload their magazine clip, brave individuals are able to step up and apprehend those individuals,” Greenwald said. “In Sandy Hook, children were able to flee and escape.”

Greenwald’s testimony was punctuated with shouts of “time’s up” from the crowd.

But the room fell silent during the testimony from 9-year-old Shyanne Roberts, a fourth -grade pupil from Franklin Township in Gloucester County who participates in shooting competitions.

Roberts — whose was accompanied by her father, Dan, a gun rights activist — said a Glock she owns, along with a custom-built AR-15 she’s expected to receive soon from a sponsor, would be made "worthless" under the bill because they have 15-round magazines.

“I have worked and trained very hard to get to the level I am at, and if A2006 becomes law, I will be forced to choose between giving up on a very bright and promising future in a sport that I love, or asking my dad if we can move to another state,” Roberts said. “… Everyone is upset about bad people doing bad things to others. But punishing the people who didn’t do anything wrong is not the way to stop bad people.”

Bryan Miller, executive director of the anti-gun violence group Heeding God’s Call, said he doubted Roberts’ guns could not be fitted with 10-round magazines, and called the testimony a “set-up” by her father.

Other gun-rights supporters said the bill would do nothing but make them less able to fend off criminals and force them to give up or sell out-of-state expensive firearms that would suddenly be illegal. Several warned they would not comply with the bill if it became law.

Max McGuire, a political science graduate student at Villanova University and Cranbury resident, said attempting to stop mass shooters with the law would be “like lowering the speed limit to stop drag racers.”

“You cannot do this. This is my property. This is stuff that I bought legally, and I committed no crime,” McGuire said.

But those who supported the bill noted that the federal assault rifle ban that expired in 2004 had limited magazine size to 10.

"This is not new," said Kristen Wald, a member of the New Jersey chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. "…I cannot add testimony that is more clear than the exaple of 11 children being able to escape the Sandy Hook perpetrator as he scrambled to replace a magazine."

The panel amended the bill to exempt certain .22 caliber rifles, often used by Boy Scouts.

The panel also approved a measure that was intended as an olive branch for gun-rights supporters, but did nothing to assuage them. The bill (A2777) would allow drivers transporting guns between home and a range or hunting grounds to make "deviations as are reasonably necessary," meaning "purchasing fuel, using a restroom, and contending with an emergency situation."

Scott Bach, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, said current law gives judges more discretion than the bill would, and urged the committee to broaden the language by adding the word “including” before specifically outlining the permitted deviations.

“They’re trying to throw us a crumb and they can’t even get that right,” Bach said in an interview.

RELATED COVERAGE

• Gun girl: Competitive shooter, 9, to testify against bill limiting magazine capacity

• More Politics







FOLLOW STAR-LEDGER POLITICS: TWITTER • FACEBOOK • GOOGLE+