ChristiePolitics&Eggs4.jpg

Gov. Chris Christie speaks to an attendee of Saint Anselm College's Institute of Poltics 2016 speaker series. The governor took aim at New Jersey's Democratic lawmakers, saying they would "have to answer" for the death of a New Jersey woman murdered by an ex-boyfriend before her gun license could be approved by her township. (Claude Brodesser-Akner | NJ Advance Media) Tuesday, June 9, 2015.

GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday said he regrets that New Jersey "is not yet a dictatorship" that would allow him to scrap the state's tough gun laws.

The Republican governor also said Democrats in the state legislature "are going to have to answer" for New Jersey's laws, mentioning the death last week of a New Jersey woman killed while awaiting a handgun license.

Taking questions from the audience at the Saint Anselm Institute of Politics, Christie was responding to a question from a man concerned about the murder of a Berlin Township woman, Carol Bowne, 39, who feared for her safety and applied for a gun license in mid-April, but was killed by her ex-boyfriend in her own driveway during the two-month long licensing process.

"I'm dealing with a Democratic legislature — that's what New Jersey's given me," said Christie. "They have a very, very different view of the Second Amendment than I do. But they're going to have to answer for these things. There was, apparently, a protest this weekend, in front of the Senate President's home, for folks regarding the Carol Bowne situation."

Christie said that "the Carol Bowne situation is going to force more conversation in our state, although I am not confident that it will change."

Addressing a question about what he was doing to mitigate the state's gun laws, which are some of the strictest in the nation, Christie pointed to his Monday pardon of Steffon Josey-Davis.

An armored truck driver, Josey-Davis became a felon after admitting to police officers during a routine traffic stop that he'd left his legally owned handgun in the glove box of his car.

"No matter what laws they pass, the governor does have the right to look at the administration of justice," said Christie. "And if I think an injustice has been committed, I have under the constitution, pardon power to do that. This is the third person that I've pardoned that I thought was inappropriately charged and convicted."

Christie's pardon of Josey-Davis pardon is the second on gun-related issues. The governor recently pardoned Shaneen Allen, a Pennsylvania woman who was arrested under similar circumstances. He also commuted the sentence of Brian Aitken in December 2010. Aitken had been convicted of illegally possessing three handguns he had legally purchased in Colorado. Christie commuted his sentence from seven years to time served.

"For the most part, I've been vetoing bills that would make our gun laws more restrictive, and less respectful of the Second Amendment," Christie said.

Last July, Christie vetoed a bill that would have banned high-capacity magazines, calling it "the very embodiment of reform in name only."

In a press conference with reporters after the address, Christie was asked if he supported a recent move by the New Jersey Legislature to repeal a controversial state law that called for all guns sold in New Jersey to be "smart guns" as soon as the technology became available nationally.

The law had the unintended consequence of retarding the progress of smart gun manufacturer Armatix in entering the U.S. market. Gun sellers in two states who offered the Armatix smart gun were quickly harassed and in some cases threatened by Second Amendment activists who feared it would trigger the New Jersey law.

"They should repeal it," Christie said, "The technology doesn't exist. It's been on the books for I think almost 14 years. It's another one of those pie-in-the-sky Democrat ideas, and they should just repeal it."

Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (D-Camden) last month said he was working with Senate Majoirty leader Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) to not only repeal the smart gun law, but to offer incentives and rebates to encourage its purchase.

Christie said that unless the law is repealed, he won't even consider such incentives.

"Absent a repeal, I don't know I'd be in favor of much else that they're talking about," he said.

Gov. Christie's Town Hall Meeting at Fury's Publick House 29 Gallery: Gov. Christie's Town Hall Meeting at Fury's Publick House

Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @claudebrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.